Comms Dealer

Media Logistics Platform (MLP), a newly coined term by analyst firm Ovum to define the logistics software businesses that manage the processes of production, ingest, post-production and transfer of media and data will hit £400m by 2018.

Adrian Drury, Consulting Director & Practice Leader: IT, Media & Telecoms at Ovum, said:   "Just as the Online Video Platform (OVP) market has seen rapid growth and an accelerated journey to maturity, so the MLP market is now set for growth as premium media companies look to solve the media management and logistic challenges that are today acting as an impediment to growth. In this study we look at the rapid uptake of this platform and predict massive growth across all territories for these services."

As cloud and file based-workflows become mainstream, MLPs are a vital service segment of the premium media market. With a current potential value of £100m across the core markets of Europe, North America, APAC, South America and Middle East and Africa, the total addressable market is set to quadruple in value over the next four years to be worth £400m by 2018.

As a response to disruptive threat of new media players such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Spotify, many traditional media companies have created new personalised, multi-screen services. Consumers have embraced these new services and this is now core business to content owners. The media market is moving towards a model of mass personalisation and this has driven investment in developing platforms to deliver personalised media services, as well as creating a market segment of hosted platforms to deliver these services, labeled the Online Video Platform market (OVP).

However the growing maturity, audience volume and revenue yields from these multiscreen services is exposing failings of traditional systems and processes for media management and logistics and this is becoming a choke point for growth of multiscreen services as all parties in the media supply chain wrestle with the cost and complexity of format and platform fragmentation.

"Any premium media company who wants to continue to grow will need to get these services right. The core driver for growth will be the growth of multi-screen media end markets, the growing complexity of media management and the increasing maturity of technology and platform strategy at media companies," says Drury.

AT&T, Cisco, GE, IBM and Intel have formed the Industrial Internet Consortium to improve integration of the physical and digital worlds.

The open membership group is focused on breaking down the barriers of technology silos to support better access to big data with improved integration to more easily connect and optimize assets, operations and data to drive agility and to unlock business value across all industrial sectors.

"We are at the precipice of a major technological shift at the intersection of the cyber and physical worlds, one with broad implications that will lead to substantial benefits, not just for any one organisation, but for humanity," said Janos Sztipanovits, director, E. Bronson Ingram Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS), Vanderbilt University.

"Academia and industry understand the need to identify and establish new foundations, common frameworks and standards for the Industrial Internet, and are looking to the IIC to ensure that these efforts come together into a cohesive whole."

The intial charter has a set of noble aims around Internet of Things that include:
• Utilising existing and creating new industry use cases and test beds for real-world applications
• Delivering best practices, reference architectures, case studies, and standards requirements to ease deployment of connected technologies;
• Influencing the global standards development process for internet and industrial systems;
• Facilitating open forums to share and exchange real-world ideas, practices, lessons, and insights;
• Building confidence around new and innovative approaches to security.

Unified Communications vendor Swyx has unveiled the fourth release of its SwyxWare 2013 solution which includes among other enhancements integration with the collaboration tool TeamViewer within the Swyx client.

By clicking on SwyxWare's collaboration button, the user can activate the pre-installed TeamViewer application and start an online meeting within a few seconds and display documents to view or share in real-time.

"For colleagues working from home, sat on different floors in the same office or in other locations, it is becoming increasingly important to initiate web conferences via a mouse click during a call to review and edit documents together," said Thomas Köhler, product manager at Swyx. "Our flexible Plug-In makes this easy by integrating the popular collaboration software."

In addition to the TeamViewer-integration the new version R4 includes enhancements in the areas of CTI-pairing and integration with Microsoft PowerShell. Due to the newly introduced Bulk administration, recurring administrative tasks or changes can be implemented efficiently to all or specific users, said the vendor. A total of 145 commands are integrated in the new version of SwyxWare.

The first comprehensive and co-ordinated effort to tackle nuisance calls has been unveiled today by Culture Secretary Maria Miller.

The Nuisance Calls Action Plan sets out new measures being taken by Government, regulators, consumer groups and industry to tackle nuisance calls.

For the first time, the Culture Secretary will consult on lowering the threshold for when action can be taken against firms making nuisance calls. Thousands of people are plagued by nuisance calls each month and the consultation could see the bar significantly reduced making it easier for sanctions to be imposed.

Alongside the Action Plan Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has also today unveiled plans to impose fines of hundreds of thousands of pounds on claims management companies which use information gathered by unsolicited calls and texts and other bad practices.

Culture Secretary, Maria Miller said: "Nuisance calls must stop. At best they are an irritation and an unwanted intrusion, at worst they cause real distress and fear, particularly to the elderly or housebound.

"People need to feel safe and secure in their homes. The rules are clear - people have the right to choose not to receive unsolicited marketing calls. We will work to ensure their choice is respected."

The Action Plan brings together Government, regulators, consumer groups and industry in the first ever comprehensive and co-ordinated effort to clamp down on nuisance calls.

There continues to be a very substantial number of complaints with 120,310 made between April and November 2013 to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the regulator responsible for unsolicited marketing calls.

In January this year, there were also 2,507 complaints about silent and abandoned call made to Ofcom, which is the regulator responsible for those calls.

The Action Plan, led by Communications Minister Ed Vaizey, outlines the action already being taken against the companies responsible for nuisance calls and new measures to help deal with the problem.

New measures to tackle the problem include:

• Consulting later this year on lowering the threshold for when the ICO can fine companies. Currently calls must cause 'substantial damage' or 'substantial distress';

• Next week regulations will be laid in Parliament to simplify how Ofcom can share information with the ICO and the Insolvency Service about rogue companies;
•
Richard Lloyd, Which? Executive Director, will chair a task force to investigate how consumers give and withdraw consent to receiving marketing calls.

• The Ministry of Justice will tomorrow launch a consultation on whether regulated companies that breach Claims Management Regulation Unit rules should face fines up to 20 per cent of their annual turnover for offences including using information gathered by unsolicited calls and texts, providing bad services or wasting time and money by making spurious or unsubstantiated claims. This will mean fines of hundreds of thousands of pounds, and potentially millions in some cases.

Announcing the fines plans, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said: "It is time to stop these claims companies from plaguing hardworking people's lives and wasting everyone's time - the scale of these fines shows just how serious we are about stopping them.

"The Claims Management Regulator already takes tough action against companies which break the rules, suspending and closing down rogue firms, but now these fines will give us an extra weapon to drive bad behaviour out of the industry."

Richard Lloyd, Which? Executive Director said: "This Action Plan is a victory for the 110,000 people who backed our campaign to call time on the menace of nuisance calls and texts.

"Millions of consumers are bombarded by these calls, often because they weren't aware that their personal information might be used in third party marketing, so I'm delighted to be chairing a task force of experts to review how consumers give and withdraw their consent to be contacted.

"We now look forward to regulators using their new powers to help stop this growing problem. It's also important that people continue to report complaints so regulators can crack down on companies who break the rules."

FCS Chief Exec' Chris Pateman has entered the Cloud 100, the global community of the 100 most influential ICT industry leaders, chosen by Cloud World Series, organisers of the Cloud World Forum events.

Pateman said he was 'surprised and delighted' to learn the news.

"I take it as a hugely encouraging sign for the health and inclusiveness of this industry that my insights from a lifetime in and around channel and distribution chains are valued alongside the contributions of individuals with more obvious skills in IT development and infrastructure management," he said.

"FCS is the voice of the UK business-to-business communications industry. Now the channel has a voice at the cloud community's top table, I'm going to do my best to ensure the future development of cloud solutions takes the maximum possible account of the channel and the broader supply chain. The more closely we can bring clever solutions together with sales expertise, the more value we can deliver to everyone in the industry."

Maintel has been awarded a contract to deliver SCOPIA video conferencing solution to mental health care provider Partnerships in Care (PiC) across 23 sites nationwide.

PiC is one of the largest independent providers of secure and step down facilities across the UK, with 23 hospitals and 1,230 placements around the country.

The SCOPIA solution Maintel is to implement will reduce the need for patients to be transported between hospital and court rooms - a process that can be quite stressful for the patient involved. Additionally, PiC will be able to realise savings by reducing patient escorting costs for these visits. "

PiC will also save time and resource on meetings currently involving travel from one end of the country to another for meetings that may run for as little as half an hour.

David Ewing, IT Director, from Partnerships in Care said: "As well as improving our patients care pathways, this vital technology solution will create significant savings for PiC as it greatly reduces the need for inter-site travel and the staffing resource required to transport patients.

"SCOPIA will provide seamless communication between court room and our hospitals, as it integrates so easily with installed base solutions.

"The move to SCOPIA is a continuation of PiC's investment in Avaya and thereby complements our existing technology strategy."

Simon Culmer, Managing Director, Avaya UK, commented: "Our SCOPIA video conferencing solution enables people to participate in high-quality video-calls, from either their desktop or mobile device. Customers who are using SCOPIA report time and resource savings and Partnerships in Care will experience this too. In addition, for patients, the benefits of not having to travel to court are enormous."

3CX stormed through the last four quarters (Q4 2012 to Q3 2013 inclusive) as the fastest growing PBX vendor with call control license shipments growing by 52% year-on-year in Q3 2013, according to research from industry analyst MZA.

The developer of the Windows VoIP PBX 3CX Phone System outstripped the global PBX market which saw a 7% decline in the same period.

Will Parsons, co-reporter of MZA's Quarterly PBX/IP PBX Analysis, said: "3CX is without question a significant emerging player in the global market for PBX extensions and call control licenses. In a time where businesses budgets are often restricted due to economic constraints, the cost savings, the ease of maintenance and the full functionality of the 3CX Phone System has proved to have a wide appeal in the market place."

3CX CEO Nick Galea added: "3CX Phone System has successfully responded to the urgent need from businesses around the world for a cost-effective, software-based, Unified Communications solution.

"Our phone system offers a feature-rich, yet reliable solution, enabling companies to save money and time so that they can focus on their core business.

"In 2014 we expect 3CX to go from strength to strength as more businesses make the move from traditional proprietary PBX systems to VoIP."

According to Galea, 3CX's growth is indicative of the broader trend within the telephony market, which is seeing a shift away from traditional proprietary PBX systems to VoIP.

The research from MZA reveals a 3% increase in the IP extensions market in Western Europe in Q3 2013, with IP extensions representing 57% of the market.

Congrats to Maidstone-based Carefree Communications, winner of Channel Telecom's 2013 year-end incentive. Carefree's MD James Bradley collected a Sony PlayStation 4 games console from Matt Donaldson, Sales Director for Channel Telecom.

Donaldson said: "We're delighted to present James with the Sony PS4. Although Carefree Communications joined us as a channel partner only last year, they are doing a remarkable amount of business and I'm delighted to reward their efforts with this prize. We have other exciting incentive promotions scheduled for 2014 so now is great time to partner with Channel Telecom."

Team Plusnet is limbering up for this year's Yorkshire Marathon (October 12th) aiming to raise over £2,500 for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal. Eleven employees will line-up as part of a 7,000 strong field including elite athletes and famous faces.

The course is flatter and faster than London, Paris, Chicago and Berlin and takes participants past some of York's historic sites.

Julian Walshaw, who works as a Sales and Retention Advisor and ran last year's marathon in a time of 4 hours and 8 minutes, commented on his decision to run again: "Well I do love a challenge, so after last year's fantastic experience I'm more than happy to put myself through it again and beat my personal best. To top it off, it's a great charity this year so it's a win for everyone."

Chris Pettitt, a first-time marathon runner and part of the Digital Care team at Plusnet, said: "First off, I've never run a marathon before, or even a half marathon, so it should be quite interesting."

Richard Babs-Apata (pictured), a Technical Support Advisor based in Plusnet's new Leeds office, added: "Running a marathon is something I have always wanted to do. It sounds like cliché I know but the fact is, it's for a good cause. I want to prove that nothing is impossible and to be part of a team doing something to help make other people's lives better."

Siobhan Curtis, Legacy Manager at the Jane Tomlinson Appeal, stated: "The continued support we receive from the staff at Plusnet is simply fantastic. It's great to see so many deciding to take on the Marathon challenge this year not only to achieve their own personal goals but in the process to raise money for the Appeal."

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After rising 19% yr/yr FQ3, Red Hat's billings rose 24% in FQ4 to $565m (well above revenue of $400M), as the company continues benefiting from Linux's server OS share gains. Booking from EMEA rose to 26% of the total, up from 25% last year.

While UNIX to Linux conversion may be winding down a bit, it still has some way to go, and Red Hat thinks Windows to Linux conversion is picking up. Another factor that is not talked about much is the embedded use of Linux and a whole lot of other technologies, it says.

CEO Jim Whitehurst said: "The main drivers of this growth in Q4 were the continued demand for Red Hat's fast growing core platform and application development offerings, including our broad portfolio of middleware offerings."

The channel is increasingly important: for the year, the channel business grew faster than direct sales resulting in an annual mix of 63% from the channel and 37% direct, up from last fiscal year and moving closer to the multiyear goal of 70%-30% split of channel and direct sales.

Red Hat's deferred revenue balance rose 18% yr/yr to $1.29B, after growing 14% in FQ3. Subscription revenue (88% of total) revenue +16% yr/yr vs. +17% in FQ3. Training/services revenue +8% vs. +9%. Opex rose 15% to $280.6m.