Comms Dealer

Gamma has completed Microsoft's Unified Communication Open Interoperability Program (UCOIP), which now accredits Gamma SIP trunks as being certified for connection to Microsoft Lync 2013.

This follows Gamma's earlier Lync 2010 accreditation which saw Gamma become one of the UK's first SIP providers to gain such certification.

Gamma believes that enterprise voice is now an integral part of the MS Lync proposition.

Gamma's SIP Product Manager, Stephen Ashley-Brian, said:
"We know from the conversations we have with our Partners, just how important this accreditation is. When Microsoft makes such a big play into the enterprise arena as they have done with Lync, then our partners take notice and demand this level of interop to meet that demand."

Alcatel-Lucent has lifted the lid on new cloud-based enterprise communications solutions for both small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and an expansion of services for mid-to-large enterprises.

Alcatel-Lucent's new OpenTouch Office Cloud (OTOC) solution is a unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) offer.

With more than 17 million users globally of OmniPCX Office, OTOC will enable existing SMB customers to shift their CPU to the cloud for instant access to unified communications services.  
 
Avita in Ireland and Synelyans in France have been named as launch channel partners for the first deliveries of OTOC in their respective countries.

Additional partners will shortly be announced for the Asia-Pacific and central northern European markets.

Eric Penisson, General Manager of the Enterprise Communications Business Division at Alcatel-Lucent, said: "The ability to help business adopt cloud-based services is the focus of our OpenTouch Cloud suite. 

"Both OpenTouch Office and OpenTouch Enterprise Cloud give employees the collaborative experience they want, and have been well received by our channel partners."

Nimans has created a new two-day technical training course for resellers to master the company's exclusive iQ PBX comms platform.

The 'classroom style' event takes place at Nimans' Manchester headquarters on March 19th and 20th and is designed for skilled PBX installation engineers with or without SIP expertise. A second course takes place on May 28th and 29th.

Content includes network settings, security, system customisation, capacities and major features. Storage management, configuration and troubleshooting are also on the agenda.

iQ PBX Business Manager, Judith Addison, said: "The training consists of explanations, demonstrations, discussions and practical exercises ensuring each delegate is confident and proficient in the technical side of our growing family of iQ PBX systems. The event culminates in a test for attendees to achieve official certification."

Channel Telecom is on a recruitment drive for five more salespeople to join its account management and sales team.

Channel Telecom has more than doubled turnover every year since its establishment in 2009 with revenues for 2013 achieving an impressive £6m.

Matt Donaldson, Sales Director, aims to double the company's turnover again. He commented: "We're currently looking for people with great account management skills, but above all we want self-starters that are hungry to earn more money. There's so much opportunity to grow with this company and make your role unique. It's a fantastic atmosphere with a strong work ethic. We work hard and play hard."

Early this year Channel Telecom moved to new offices in Essex to accommodate additional staff for anticipated further expansion.

The company offers the channel either reseller or dealer sales models and provides a portfolio of converged voice and data solutions.

Clifford Norton, MD, said: "We were constrained in our recruitment plans because we literally couldn't physically accommodate more people. Since Matt's appointment, I've shared his enthusiasm and will support his aims to increase our sales team to continue providing the best service to the channel."

Westcon Group is aiming to unlock the video conferencing market for SMBs following an EMEA distribution agreement with Edgewater Networks, a specialist in video border security.

According to Westcon the price-point of Edgewater's accreditation and certification charges reduce the cost of entry and increase speed to market. Combined with less infrastructure requirements the solution is also said to be fast to deploy.

"The relationship presents a real opportunity for our resellers to drive video conferencing into the SMB market to facilitate growth cost-effectively for both the reseller and the end user," commented David Grant, Vice President Westcon Group, EMEA.

Red Box Recorders has signed a reseller agreement with Linx-Networks, a provider of custom built technology and telecom solutions for a range of global customers with a strong presence within the City of London financial community.

Under the terms of the deal the Red Box Quantify Suite will become its preferred recording solution.

Gareth Malone, Director at Linx-Networks, said: "For our financial sector clients the Red Box solution meets the key requirement for a robust recording solution which can help them remain compliant with the stringent requirements of financial regulations."

Lee Jones, CEO at Red Box Recorders, said: "Linx-Networks is an excellent addition to our reseller network as it has the strong in-house knowledge and expertise to support our ongoing expansion in the financial markets.

"Our Quantify Recording Suite removes the compliance headache for financial institutions and Linx-Networks are well placed to take our products to market."

Herts-based 2 Circles Communications has retained its O2 JUC Wholesale Partner of the Year award for the third year in succession.

Steve McConnell, Sales Director, enthused: "Winning this award for the third year running is testament not only to the first class experience that we deliver to our customers, but also to the increasing number of channel partners who now place their O2 business with us."

Of particular note in 2 Circles' services offering is the Online Billing Information portal (OLI) which allows customers to manage their communications efficiently with features such as automatic Fraud Alert emails.

"This service has been instrumental in winning a number of key mobile deals and in attaining our 99.76% customer retention rate," added McConnell.

Bernie McPhillips, Head of Wholesale Partners at O2, commented: "2 Circles is a strategic Wholesale Partner for O2 with an impressive portfolio of clients, demonstrating best in class service to their customers. It was these attributes that led to it being ranked O2's Number One JUC Wholesale Partner in 2013."

Pictured: 2 Circles MD Steve Cook accepts the award from Ben Dowd, O2 Sales Director, and Jason Phillips, O2's Head of Partner Sales.

An expansion bid by cloud specialist Cirrus Response has been boosted by the appointment of two non-executive directors, Nigel Walsh and Royston Hoggarth, who have wasted no time in making their mark on the organisation.

Cirrus CEO Jason Roos stated: "Nigel and Royston's collective experience is already paying dividends for us."

Hoggarth, previously CEO of BT Global Services and Cable&Wireless, has worked in financial services, telecoms, software and services. He sits on the board of a number of UK plcs in executive and non-executive capacities.

Walsh is VP and head of UK insurance at Capgemini and was previously General Manager UKSI and Southern Region at Corizon. He has particular expertise in financial services business management and serves as a trustee for the charity Hertsmerre Leisure.

Yorkshire-based hosted telecoms provider Skyrack Telecom has partnered with Manx Telecom to launch a new mobile PBX service.

The SIM-based product, called Mobile-X, is exclusively available from Skyrack Telecom. Managing Director Gavin Sweet said: "Most companies are increasingly reliant on their mobile communication.

"They want their employees to be fully functional when out of the office, and that means enhanced mobile services. 

"We believed, that if we developed a product which offered a true and seamless PBX service over mobile - and do so on one SIM - we would have a market leading product on our hands. 
 
"We set about looking for a telecoms company who shared the same vision, and one that was willing to enter into a true technological and business partnership with us - and we found that in Manx Telecom."
 
In addition to offering traditional mobile connectivity for calls, texts, data, and voicemail, Mobile-X can also be configured to provide any service or functionality, which a conventional wired PBX can offer. 
 
Paul Craig, Chameleon Sales Manager at Manx Telecom said: "Chameleon's Smart SIM technology has helped Skyrack to meet one of the most difficult challenges of the FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence) market, to offer a properly integrated commercial mobile solution that is easy to use, fully white-labelled and feature rich for business customers. It took 18 months of hard work to get where we are today."

Swyx' UC solution SwyxWare is now compatible with the globally recognised SIPconnect 1.1. standard, meaning that its IP-PBX software can be delivered immediately by service providers.

This means that tests for SIP trunking between manufacturers and providers are no longer necessary using the new version of SwyxWare 2013 R3.??"If a service provider already supports the standard, tests are no longer required and the UC solution can be immediately up and running," said Mathias Reidel, Director of business development at Swyx.

"Standardisation saves not only time, but also financial and human resource costs of deployment.

"In addition, compatibility with SIPconnect 1.1 paves the way for the growing demand for unified communications from the cloud and offers us a pioneering role as a leading manufacturer in this sector."