Comms Dealer

Sennheiser has unveiled the Mobile Business Series Pro (MB Pro) premium Bluetooth headsets for business use.
 
Sennheiser's multi-connectivity Mobile Business Series Pro headsets offer business professionals high definition audio quality with the ability to seamlessly manage calls when connecting to different laptops, smartphones or tablets.
 
The MB Pro 2 binaural series is the first product range to incorporate the Sennheiser Room Experience. By externalising the sound from the user's head, Room Experience gives callers the impression that they are talking to a person in the same room. 

According to Sennheiser, this more realistic sound gives users a more natural and comfortable listening experience and reduced listener fatigue for all-day users. This new feature can be activated and de-activated on the headset as the user requires.
 
Jane Craven, Director of Sennheiser Telecoms Sales, said: "Today's business professionals have to deliver the highest quality work and be ever more time-efficient in the face of multi-platform work environments and frequent travel commitments. The MB Pro Series meets all these different requirements." 

Skills gaps, high demand and concerns surrounding staff retention are driving pay rises in the IT arena, according to the latest ReThink Recruitment IT directors' survey.

The IT recruitment consultancy also found a gap between resourcing capacity and expected activity in its survey of over 1,500 director level professionals.

Figures in the seventh annual survey highlight that salaries have continued their upward trend after a challenging period during the global recession.

The majority of directors (65%) reported salaries grew in the last twelve months, with a further 95% reporting contractor rates had either increased or remained stable during this time.

This rise in pay looks set to continue throughout 2014, with 27% of those surveyed predicting contractor rate rises and 69% expecting to increase permanent salaries.

As the competition for talent continues to increase in a limited pool of specialist skills, this trend is to be expected. With staff retention remaining a critical concern - 66% of respondents stated this was a significant concern - salary increases look set to continue over the coming months.

The results of the report also identified a gap between predicted workload over the next year and the capacity of current resources.

The majority of those surveyed (77%) expect to see an increase in workload over the next twelve months. While this remains on par with 2013 figures, the comparison between this and budget forecasts suggests IT departments are set to continue working in a 'more for less' environment.

With only 47% expecting a rise in budgets, it's perhaps unsurprising that 52% of directors do not feel they have the capacity to increase output with current staffing levels.

This has also led to a rise in the number of organisations offshoring work, with those expecting to utilise this resource rising from 21% in 2013, to 35%.

Michael Bennett, Managing Director at ReThink Recruitment, commented: "The results of this year's research have built on the promising figures returned in the last edition and give plenty of cause for optimism for IT departments in 2014. This follows on from the positive findings from the KPMG/Markit Tech Monitor report that revealed the UK tech sector recorded its best growth performance for almost a decade in the fourth quarter of 2013.

"Initial signs suggest stability is returning to the market, but there is clearly some way to go yet before full confidence returns. IT directors face growing competition for talent which is driving salary increases across the board. Recruitment within this arena also looks set to be highly active with 49% of those surveyed planning to increase headcount, mirroring recent reports from KPMG and Markit, which will be further exacerbated by the gap between demand and resources identified in our survey.

In an industry where talented specialists are always in high demand, it will certainly prove challenging for many directors to keep their top performers and, indeed, attract new experts. While the UK economy continues to show signs of positivity, it seems the IT arena still has a number of challenges to contend with. The next year, then, looks set to be extremely busy for IT professionals."

Channel Telecom has launched a trade offer giving channel partners a free Polycom IP331 phone for every end user seat license sold for the Channel Telecom hosted telephony service on a minimum 24 month contract.

Matt Donaldson, Sales Director, said: "This is another example of Channel Telecom offering our partners that extra help to close sales that is so vital in a highly competitive market. There is a boom in the uptake of hosted telephony as customers realise the big financial benefits and the working flexibility the service offers. The offer of a high quality IP phone for every user license is a definite deal maker."

Phybridge has joined the Cisco Developer Network as a Registered Developer within the Unified Communications technology category. In addition, Phybridge's UniPhyer has successfully completed interoperability testing with Cisco Unified Communications Manager, 7.1.

The Cisco Developer Network unites Cisco with third-party developers of hardware and software to deliver tested interoperable solutions to joint customers.

Members of the program share Cisco's strong commitment to customer service and satisfaction and are required to undergo interoperability testing based on criteria set forth by Cisco.

With offerings such as the Phybridge UniPhyer, customers can more quickly deploy a broad range of Cisco Compatible business applications, devices, or services that can enhance the capabilities, performance, and management of their Cisco network.

Despite forecasts that users of mobile video calling services such as Skype will increase to over 130 million users by 2018, question marks remain over the potential for mobile video calling to generate revenues in its own right, a new report from Juniper Research has found.

The report observed that as with many OTT services, only a small proportion of mobile video calling users pay for the service directly. OTT mobile video calling players are therefore widening their service offering and opening their client bases to third games parties or developing their own apps in a bid to increase monetisation options.

"The role of mobile video calling is becoming clearer," said the report's author Anthony Cox. "With a number of OTT players having gained a critical mass of users through the provision of free video services, those players are now introducing an array of premium products or creating revenue-share partnerships to create a viable revenue stream."

The report also found that new standards such as WebRTC (Real Time Communication) will improve integration of mVoIP functionality into websites and mobile Apps, paving the way for the development of new services such as direct access to sales call centres from websites.

Logicalis has named Richard Aston as Vice President of Services with a remit to expand Logicalis' Services business in the UK as the company continues to align its service offerings under a single portfolio brand, Optimal.

Aston joins Logicalis from Fujitsu where his most recent role was Head of Solutions and Architecture. He has over 25 years experience in the industry with a background in all aspects of IT operations from data centre services, operations and management through to service delivery and solution development.

He said: "Organisations today want to gain maximum business value from their investments in IT and to have cost-effective and efficient services that will deliver real value to their customers and stakeholders.

"They are also looking to drive innovation and business advantage through the appropriate use of IT technology and services, and Logicalis has a capability that can be leveraged to help them achieve this goal."

Venus Business Communications has launched a support package for Voucher Scheme resellers operating under the Superconnected Cities initiative, a government grant scheme designed to incentivise SMEs to upgrade to high speed connectivity.

The scheme provides individual businesses with £3,000 to offset the associated installation of infrastructure and runs for just a year.

Venus Director Brian Iddon said: "This is a great government scheme that resellers need to be aware of. Venus is already one of the registered providers for the scheme and we would encourage other retailers to join. There are great opportunities for resellers to increase volume with good margins with infrastructure cost barriers being removed by the scheme."

The scheme invites businesses to get quotes from suppliers registered with the scheme. The business then applies to their local authority under the scheme for a connection voucher. Once the work is complete the voucher is redeemed for £3,000. The Superconnected Cities scheme facilitates installation of either Next Generation Access (NGA) technology or a Business Grade Connection delivering speeds of over 24 Mbps.

"We have designed a fibre leased line package specifically for resellers registered with the Superconnected Cities scheme that offers competitive prices," added Iddon.

"The package helps resellers to get the most out of the high anticipated volumes the scheme is likely to create across the UK. As a network operator we can support resellers registered on the scheme allowing them to deliver a high speed uncontended connection that will deliver a symmetrical service."

The Government predicts that the scheme will stimulate many SMEs to install the best connectivity infrastructure they can.

"As businesses seek to future proof their IT to deliver high speed connection, resellers and the supporting network operators need to be ready to deliver the anticipated high demand across the UK," added Iddon.

French integrator Atos has signed a five year infrastructure services programme with Kelway. It is estimated to be worth £150m over the five years and will deliver desktop infrastructure and datacentre hardware services in the UK and Ireland.

Kelway is now the primary provider of infrastructure and associated services to Atos' managed services business in the UK, and will offer end-to-end supply chain services, backed-up by a support programme.

"This new partnership with Atos showcases Kelway's ability to deliver key business technologies at the enterprise scale," commented Phil Doye, CEO of Kelway. "We're continuing to impress leading global brands with our comprehensive range of solutions and services."

Ingram Micro is to try the US collaborative partner model in Europe and is starting with the UK.

The idea behind VentureTech Network is a network of independent resellers who share ideas, resources, and technologies in a non-competitive environment. VTN makes it possible for members to easily partner with one another and to turn a local or regional business into a nationwide or multi-regional operation, it says.

Brent McCarty, Ingram Micro's Managing Director and VP for UK and Ireland commented: "Having participated in the VTN community for many years in North America, I've seen firsthand
how committed the partners are and how important VTN has been to helping build their businesses. Participation is the key to maximising the many benefits the VTN model presents and it's great to see how much our founding members enjoy taking part and the passion they feel for the programme."

As part of the community, VTN members have the opportunity to network with and learn from other successful resellers, share best practices, leverage capabilities and have greater visibility of vendors and market evolution. "With VTN, you get out what you put in and I look forward to seeing VTN become the premier partner community in the UK, as it is in North America," added McCarty.

Mark Williams, Client Services Director of Wavex, will serve as VTN UK's first council President.

The first chapter meeting will take place this month in Surrey and will be hosted by Ingram Micro's North America Vice President of Marketing, Jennifer Anaya and Senior Director of North America Channel Marketing and Account Management, John Fago.

The recruitment process for VTN UK started in 2013, with three reseller partners attending the North America VTN Invitational in Palm Springs, California to experience first-hand the power of what VTN brings to the VAR community of network members. These three partners are now the founding members of the UK community: Lan2Lan, Symitry, Wavex.

IT services group Computacenter recorded its fourth successive year of revenue growth, helped by a strong performance in the UK and more stability in Germany, although the smaller France division disappointed.

Revenues broke through the £3m barrier for the first time, rising 2.5% at constant currencies to £3.07bn, with adjusted earnings per share advancing 6.1% to 43.3p after July's cash return to shareholders.

A focus on expanding the services arm saw the significant growth in 2012 continue in 2013, with revenue up 3.7% to represent 31.4% of the group's total.
The larger supply chain businesses in the UK and Germany performed well, especially during the second half of the year, which management put down to the strength of customer relationships within markets that now appear to be showing the signs of a sustained economic recovery. Supply chain revenue grew 2%.

Group profitability was mixed, with profit growth in the UK and Germany being substantially offset by issues in France which became apparent during the course of the year, meaning group adjusted profit before tax increased by 3%.

While business conditions in France were challenging, 'most of the problems were of our own making', admitted Chairman Greg Lock as the group took a £12.2m impairment on the deteriorated French business.

"We took too long to implement the group enterprise resource planning system and this resulted in logistics issues that have depressed our profit and temporarily increased our working capital requirements, which have in turn negatively impacted our cash position in the short-term."

The board is taking "robust action" over the next 18 months in order to improve the performance of the business, including the extension of its new operating model into France, alongside a strategic shift towards a more services-based business model similar to those currently seen in the UK and Germany.