Comms Dealer

Veeam has named Softcat, provider of IT services, its top performing ProPartner in Northern EMEA.

Softcat has been selected as in 2013 Softcat's Veeam revenues exceeded other resellers in this region, the company says.

"We're delighted to have been recognised as the top performing reseller in the northern EMEA. This award demonstrates two things: the quality and popularity of Veeam's data protection solutions, and the commitment of Softcat's staff to engaging our customers and promoting our partners' products and services," says Sam Routledge, Solutions Director at Softcat.

Exeter-based comms provider Eclipse has staged its annual awards ceremony at The Cosy Club in the city centre.

"These awards are a fantastic way to promote and celebrate all the hard work, passion and commitment that the Eclipse team puts in throughout the year and it was certainly a night to remember," enthused MD Clodagh Murphy.

Award categories included Customer Champion of the Year, The One to Watch and the Eclipse Star of the Year which was awarded to David Howard, whose dedication and hard work has helped Eclipse put foundations in place for their plans to double in size in the next five years.

Murphy added: "Without doubt the team here are our most valuable asset, and the culture we have is critical to our success. Taking the time out to celebrate our achievements and acknowledge the hard work of the fantastic Eclipse team is a real highlight for us all, but particularly for me. It is a real pleasure to be part of this team and I am inspired by them every single day."

Dirk Valbert is to become the new CFO at Dortmund-based UC vendor Swyx from May 1st.

The MBA holder brings more than 18 years experience in the telecommunications industry and a broad expertise in the areas of finance, controlling and consulting, together with extensive management experience.

The 45-year old has been involved in the telecommunications industry since he began his early professional life at mobile operator Mannesmann.

For 12 years he was chief financial officer at conVISUAL AG, where has was responsible for all commercial matters and successfully led the mobile marketing solutions manufacturer on to the stock exchange.

In his last position, Valbert was Managing Director for a display systems manufacturer where he was responsible for its sustainable restructuring.

Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus, Chief Executive Officer, Swyx, said: "We took the time to find the right choice: Swyx is currently in transition, with new structures and processes being introduced to adopt to recurring revenues from a SaaS business model. We need a specialist like Dirk Valbert, with his breadth of experience and his visionary approach to future markets."

iHub has strengthened its team with the appointment of George Vlismas as Operations Manager.

Vlismas, an experienced network support manager with significant experience within the telecommunications and IT industry, joins the leading business hosted communication supplier as they embark on their major Channel partner recruitment drive.

Having previously worked in senior positions at Nortel and most recently Unified Group, Vlismas is tasked with further enhancing iHub's high levels of partner support, coordinating install activity within the operations team and testing and supporting iHub's evolving range of hosted IP voice services.

In addition, Vlismas will also play a pivotal role in the roll-out of MiHub, iHub's new second generation partner portal.

Vlismas said: "I am looking forward to being part of growing the organisation's Hosted Voice services and SIP trunk business. It truly is a dynamic and expanding market."

iHub Commercial Director John Donaldson added: "George's wealth of experience in VoIP and unified communications makes him a valuable addition to the iHub team. George will play an integral role in operations as we support further growth of our and our partners businesses in the HIPT space."

ICUK has played a role in the biggest expansion of the domain namespace since registration began.

The days of traditional .coms and .co.uks could be behind us, as a rollout of new extensions will see a surge in creativity hit the market, claims the firm.

New domain name extensions include .technology, .shopping, .coffee, .training and even .bike.

Paul Barnett, director of ICUK, said: "This is the biggest expansion in the market we've ever seen and it gives people a chance to secure the simple address they always wanted, or find one more relevant to their business.

"This expansion also gives people the chance to be much more creative with their domain names, once the limitations of familiar extensions are gone.

"New names have already been snapped up - we're seeing a surprisingly large number of people get on board with the changes securing themselves great names."

ICUK is marking this event by offering free whois privacy on all of the new domain extensions as well as many of the existing options.

Barnett added: "We believe privacy should be a right, not a privilege, which is why we're offering whois privacy for free.

"We want to see our users protected from identity theft and spammers and hope they'll take up the offer when registering one of the new, exciting domain names through us."

The new domain extensions offer a wide range of options for businesses and individuals in a variety of industries. Those in service industries will find options such as .builders, .construction, .florist, whilst cafe and restaurants can choose from .menu or .kitchen. Bloggers can choose fashion related extensions, such as .clothes and .diamonds, and photographers can create an online showcase with .gallery or .photos.
?The new domain names are now available through the ICUK website.

Nine Wholesale sponsored racing driver Josh Webster scored an inspired victory in round four of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Donington Park, witnessed by a contingent of Nine's Purple Partners who attended the race as guests.

In a dramatic race, Webster was ahead when rain set in mid-race. On lap 16, with seven laps to go, Webster made the brave call to pit for wet tyres, proving to be a smart move as the rain became worse. Once back on the track, Webster lapped up to 10s a lap faster than his rivals and stormed back to re-take the lead.

Commenting on the win, Webster said: "When I was in the pits I really thought I'd messed it up. I could see cars flying past and we had a problem with the wheel gun on the rear right. In the end I think I called it perfectly, but it was maybe more luck than anything else! I'm so happy for me and the team!"

Piers Linney, the founder and co-CEO of Cloud Services Provider (CSP) Outsourcery and newest addition to the BBC series Dragons' Den, has been nominated for the 2014 EY Entrepreneur of the Year award for the London & South region.

He has been recognised for his work with Outsourcery, the CSP he co-founded with his business partner Simon Newton in 2007 after buying and transforming telecoms provider Genesis Communications.

Linney invested more than £10m of his own money after recognising the potential in the cloud.

Outsourcery was selected as a supplier for the Government's G Cloud framework in 2013, as well as raising £17m after floating on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to fund an expansion that is expected to double its revenue year on year.

The company grew its cloud-based revenue from scratch to over £4m in its first three years, and Outsourcery has been successful in securing a number of key strategic partnerships, with reseller partners such as with Vodafone - and Virgin Media Business, Atos, Ingram Micro, Microsoft, Dell and over 500 other resellers in its SMB partner network.

The EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards recognises the achievements of entrepreneurs and their companies, and is held in more than 145 cities across more than 60 countries around the world.

Linney has been nominated for the London and South category, which has received an unprecedented number of entries this year in a range of sectors from manufacturing to theatre.

He said: "This is one of the premier business awards in the world, so it's a huge honour to have been recognised as a finalist for Outsourcery. The journey of transforming the company into an internationally recognised leader in cloud has been a real example of what commitment to a clear vision and an entrepreneurial mind-set can achieve.

"I'm keen to use the awards as a platform to champion the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation, and help to inspire the next generation of young entrepreneurs."

Daisy Distribution is offering partners the chance to get their hands on a free 4G-enabled tablet accompanied by a 12 months free Microsoft Lync voucher, to mark the launch of its digital commercial proposition pack.

The Ipswich-based firm has launched its new interactive guide, which offers partners real-time access to all Daisy Distribution's tariff information and propositions, in a move designed to improve the partner experience.

To mark the launch, Daisy Distribution is offering partners that take out a 24 month 8GB mobile broadband plan a free 4G-enabled, 64GB ASUS VivoTab tablet, as well as a 12 months free Microsoft Lync voucher, subject to them taking an Enterprise 365 license.

The Lync voucher offer is a part of the firm's wider campaign to raise awareness of its Office 365 packages, which include collaborative tools such as HD video conferencing and instant messaging.

Julien Parven, Marketing Director of Daisy Distribution, said: "Although we feel we already have a healthy relationship with our partners, we wanted to improve the way we engaged with them. Previously partners would have to print off hundreds of pieces of paper or download our latest proposition pack, which meant they may be using inaccurate or outdated information.

"Through creating an interactive proposition guide, easily accessible through our Daisy portal, we are able to update the pack in real time, ensuring partners always have the latest information."

Westcon has appointed Ralph Donohue as General Manager for the UK, Ireland & Greece.

He was formerly Managing Director of Paradigm Distribution, a value added distributor in data capture and POS solutions where he transitioned the business into Ingram Micro GmbH, and then became Managing Director of Ingram Micro UK & Ireland (DC/POS).

More recently Donohue has worked with a cloud-based telephony provider defining its go to market strategy and revenue model. He has also worked in the CCTV market with a niche vendor of mobile technologies.

Donohue said: "I have joined at an exciting time and am looking forward to accelerating margins and harnessing market opportunities for partners and vendors."

Children in 20,000 schools across the UK are being invited by Sir Richard Branson to share how technology is supporting their learning and helping to shape futures.

Generation Tech, a state-of-the-nation review of the role that technology plays in education, is being launched today by Virgin Media Business.

The company is calling for submissions from pupils and teachers across the country to answer the Big Digital Question - how schools today are embracing the 21st century classroom and how it can continue to enhance learning tomorrow.

The final study aims to show the deep and long lasting impact technology is already having on the education of our young people, and what the future holds.

Generation Tech will also include the hunt for members for a Digital Youth Council through nominations made by schools. The Council will be a forum for young people to engage directly with leading influencers in education. The students chosen as members will lead The Big Debate in the autumn - the first meeting of the Council - where they will have an opportunity to highlight the issues of greatest importance to them.

Branson said: "As children, we didn't have to tackle the digitalised world but we also didn't have the opportunities that it brings to today's younger generation. We need to embrace technology at every step and make it a force for good as we educate the next generation."

Education Minister Elizabeth Truss said: "Technology is everywhere and it's vital that children understand how to make it work for them. This is why we are introducing rigorous new curricula in maths and computing which will teach children skills like coding and programming along with the maths which underpins computer science. Students need to be confident in both to understand the basis of the modern world and be able to contribute to the future.

"I look forward to seeing the results of the Big Question - who better to ask about what works in the classroom than children themselves."

Mario Di Mascio, executive sales director, Virgin Media Business, added: "Schools across the country are doing a brilliant job in adapting to the digitalisation of our world in classrooms and new teaching methods. Pupils and teachers know better than anyone what is working and where the use of digital technologies can be improved, so it's time that someone stopped to listen and learn from them.

"In the UK, we have a bigger digital economy than any other developed nation and our children will be vital in helping us stay in pole position. We have a duty as a country to help schools achieve great things through technology to make sure we sustain this powerful advantage."