Comms Dealer

Dimension Data’s head honcho is upbeat about the firm’s prospects in UCC following the acquisition of certain subsidiaries of NextiraOne for an undisclosed sum.

Brett Dawson, Dimension Data CEO, also noted that the acquisition was the first stage in a five-year plan to double revenues from $6bn to $12bn.

"We tripled our business in the last 10 years and now we’re looking to double it through organic growth and strategic acquisitions,\" he stated.

"Our strategy is to take the combined portfolios of both companies to the SMB, commercial, public sector and enterprise markets. I am particularly excited about NextiraOne’s UC and collaboration business which provides Dimension Data with the ability to manage communications infrastructure across multiple platforms.\"

The solutions and services provider has snapped up NextiraOne’s businesses and its 1,850 permanent employees in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and the UK.

NextiraOne is a European multinational company that designs, installs, maintains and supports business solutions and comms services for over 43,000 private and public sector clients throughout Europe.

Dimension Data has also undertaken to acquire NextiraOne’s operations in France and Italy in mid-2015, subject to the achievement of certain performance conditions.

Andrew Coulsen, CEO of Dimension Data Europe, added: "Dimension Data’s footprint in Europe increases from 10 to 16 countries, and we now have a direct presence in six incremental countries including Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, Austria and Portugal, and Ireland.

"In countries where Dimension Data already has a presence we have greater market share. We’re also adding 1,075 technical employees to our European business. What’s particularly exciting for us is NextiraOne’s strength in the public sector and commercial markets, which provides Dimension Data with the opportunity to expand into new market areas.\"

In April 2013 GEANT, a Pan-European research and education network, issued its first Open Call for additional beneficiaries to carry out network R&D development and now the EC funding of €3.3m has been awarded to more than twenty networking technology research projects, it says.

The Open Call attracted 70 proposals covering a broad range of subjects from across Europe. The offers were submitted by universities, research institutions, corporate, SMEs and national research and education networks.

The winning projects will explore the area of future networking technologies with access to use the GEANT network, network and testbed facilities. The themes of a research include: applications and tools, authentication, network architecture and optical projects and SDN.

"The Open Call process has been extremely successful and we have been delighted to welcome 30 new partners into the GÉANT project to work with us across 21 Open Call projects. Together with our existing research activities we expect these projects will stimulate new ideas and new areas of research and discovery across the network," said Michael Enrico, CTO, DANTE.

Jean-Luc Dorel, Project Officer, European Commission added: "The GÉANT Open Call implements the policy elaborated by the GÉANT Expert Group of a competitive eco-system for stimulating advancement of GÉANT services and beyond that of the next internet. It is also a way to bridge the gap between the most advanced communication commons in the world and academic research pooling talents and resources from beyond traditional REN context".

The selected projects will run through until the end of March 2015.

US-based cloud service provider 8x8 has partnered with Zendesk, the operator of a cloud-based customer service platform, in a move that sees both companies' applications integrated to boost the responsiveness, efficiency and management of contact centres.

Zendesk is used by more than 40,000 customers to develop a bundled cloud contact centre solution. The integration provides an out-of-the-box solution contact centre and customer service applications.

8x8 Virtual Contact Centre (VCC) and Zendesk function as a single SaaS instance with reporting and runtime data integrations, enabling contact centres to increase first call resolution rates, shorten call handle times, and extract the right metrics needed to maximise the efficiencies of the contact centre.

Zendesk provides the software for agents to track customer issues, tie inquiries to a single customer record and drive agents to a solution. 8x8 manages customer interactions across voice, chat and other channels to ensure customers are connected with the agent who is best prepared to help them.

"Technology should never get in the way of delivering a great experience to customers," said Conan Reidy, Vice President of Business Development at Zendesk. "The integration means that customer support teams can focus on their relationship with customers by leveraging technology to make agents more knowledgeable and more efficient."

Aphrodite Brinsmead, Senior Analyst at Ovum, welcomed the move. "Customers are increasingly drawn to web customer service making it vital for enterprises to link their web support tools with voice, case management and agent desktop solutions," said Brinsmead. "The 8x8 and Zendesk integration makes it possible for enterprises to combine these capabilities in the cloud. It will allow agents to gain better visibility into customer needs, while managers can more easily track behavior across channels and staff their contact centers accordingly."

Late last month 8x8 followed up its acquisition of Voicenet Solutions late last year with the launch of 8x8 Solutions (formerly Voicenet Solutions), extending its reach into the UK and Europe.

BT Business Partner Sales has added to its partner numbers following a link-up with Linimex.

The firm's MD Neil Lonergan said: "Our aim is to encourage businesses to understand and embrace new and existing technologies in order to empower them to achieve their business goals. Working with BT was something we always wanted to do."

Martin Clarke, BT Sales chief, added: "Collectively our teams bring a different skill to the table and customers will see the benefit of this partnership."

Nimans has launched a zero touch auto provisioning service for Polycom devices  and plans to roll out the service to other manufacturers later this year.

An expected 25% year-on-year growth in network-based devices prompted Nimans' move to speed the delivery process of handsets to site without the need for engineer programming.

Ian Brindle, Nimans' Head of Conferencing and Handset Sales, says the service will save resellers time and money and eradicate inconvenience to improve customer satisfaction.

He said: "We are responding to market trends as we recognise the complexities of IP. Devices can now be shipped direct to site and connected to a network without the reseller having to get involved."

A brace of eye-catching offers have been launched by Fusion Media Networks to mark its tenth anniversary.

During February resellers ordering a 10Mb or more Ethernet First Mile or Ethernet service on a three year term are rewarded with a free server for one year housed in Fusion's data centre.

"The server can be used for any purpose, from data storage or web server to business continuity backup," explained CTO Lee Norvall. "It's a great opportunity to introduce customers to the advantages of VDC services."

In March, noted Norvall, Fusion customers can also increase margins on co-location services.

"Since 2004, while the economy has been in steep decline Fusion has shown steady and consistent growth," added Norvall. "That's a great testament to the solid foundations of our business, so this year we're sharing the fruits of our first 10 years with the partners who've helped us along the way."

The Co-operative Group, in partnership with The Phone Co-op, is gearing up to launch its first mobile pay-as-you-go (PAYG) SIM card in the spring.

The service will be provided by The Phone Co-op, an independent telecommunications provider based in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. It will be the first co-operative pre-pay mobile package in the market.

The Co-operative Mobile PAYG SIM card is a collaborative venture between a number of British co-operatives, including The Phone Co-op, which has provided telecommunications services in the UK for 15 years.

Vivian Woodell, Chief Executive of The Phone Co-op, said: "Launching the first co-operative pre-pay SIM card is an important milestone for us.

"Telecoms products and pricing can be confusing and this can undermine consumers' trust. We want to tackle this head on. The Phone Co-op is owned by its customers and puts them first. Our high ethical standards are reflected in the way we operate."

The Co-operative Mobile PAYG SIM card will be available across the country in 2,800 Co-operative stores, as well as participating stores in The Co-operative Retail Trading Group. Customers will also be able to order it by phone and online from The Phone Co-op.

Global mobile data traffic is expected to grow nearly 11-fold within the next four years driven by an increase in both number of mobile users and mobile connections, faster mobile speeds and a growth in mobile video, according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast.

Cisco projects that a number of mobile users will rise from 4.1 billion in 2013 to 4.9 billion by 2018. Similarly, mobile connections will increase to 2.5 Mbps by 2018 from 1.4 Mbps in 2013 and a number of mobile video will shift from 53% of overall traffic in 2013 to 69% by 2018, the study reveals.

Also, the total number of mobile internet connections will go up to 10 billion in 2018 from 7 billion in 2013 which means it will outnumber by 1.4 times the expected world's population which at that time, according to the UN estimates, should stand at 7.6 billion people.

These estimates cover two types of mobile internet connections via personal devices, which will account for 8 billion connections, and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections, which are expected to reach 2 billion, respectively, says Cisco.

Globally, approximately 54% of mobile connections will become 'smart' connections in 2018 which is up from 21% in 2013. In four years smartphones, laptops and tablets will drive about 94% of global mobile data traffic and mobile cloud traffic will go up by 12% which translates into a 64% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

According to the Cisco VNI in 2018 there will be 176.9 million global wearable devices while M2M connections, which factor in wearable devices, will generate around 6% of total mobile data traffic. And the average mobile connection speed is expected to nearly double from 2013 to 2018.

At the same time 4G traffic will grow 18-fold (78% CAGR) and will support 15% of all connections.

Moreover, mobile video traffic will increase at the fastest pace in mobile application category (14-fold from 2013 to 2018).

The Middle East region and Africa will see the highest regional growth rate in terms of mobile data traffic growth rates (14-fold growth, 70% CAGR) and will be followed by Central and Eastern Europe with a 13-fold growth (68% CAGR).

On the other hand, Asia-Pacific region will generate the highest number of mobile data by 2018 (6.72 exabytes per month), followed by North America and Western Europe.

According to the Cisco VNI Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast's annual run rate of 190 exabytes of mobile data traffic in 2018 means it will be 190 times more than IP traffic generated in 2000 or 42 trillion images or 4 trillion video clips.

Doug Webster, Vice President of Products and Solutions Marketing, Cisco, said: "Global mobile data traffic will continue its truly remarkable growth, increasing nearly 11-fold over the next five years, to reach an amount in 2018 that is more than 57 times the total amount of mobile data traffic just a few years ago in 2010.

"Such growth is not only indicative of mobility becoming a critical characteristic of almost every network experience and the value consumers and businesses alike place on it, but it also represents the immense opportunities ahead for service providers who sit at the centre of the Internet of Everything."

O2 Telefónica has rolled out a new Global Partner Programme that aims to put machine-to-machine (M2M) revenues into the hands of all partners. The operator is gearing up to launch the Global Partner Programme in all of its operating businesses and according to Head of Connectivity and Partner Sales Anton Le Saux (pictured above) the scheme will enable all comms resellers to identify M2M opportunities in their base.

"Our biggest challenge is getting companies that operate in the telecoms industry to understand M2M and the value it will bring to their business," commented Le Saux.
"With the explosive growth we are seeing in M2M we need to make sure that comms suppliers have the ability to sell M2M products and services."

A campaign to educate partners on the benefits of M2M and the Internet of Things (IoT) is also being rolled out this year, noted Le Saux.

"M2M is at the top of our investment decisions," he said. "2014 is set to be an exciting year full of surprises for M2M as we progressively see a transformation of value chains.

"M2M technology is inevitable and the solutions provide us all with an opportunity to significantly improve the way we do things."

O2 Telefónica has invested £500m in its network and in September last year was awarded the £1.5bn contract to deliver smart meter comms services in the UK over the next 15 years.

"We believe that this year the Internet of Things will be realised," commented Le Saux.

Telefónica announced the next phase in the launch of its m2m Global Channel Partner Programme in order to reinforce its position in the m2m world. T

The Programme enables Telefónica to extend the reach of its offering by partnering with the key players in the M2M value chain such as device manufacturers, solution providers and distributors.

With this move, the company is looking to fully address the managed connectivity opportunity which, according to industry analysts, will represent 11.6bn euros in 2016.

This M2M partner ecosystem allows Telefonica to identify the most successful M2M Service Providers that could become Telefónica's Vertical Solution partners in the future.

Telefónica first launched this programme in the USA, working with companies who want to expand to other markets where Telefónica has a strong presence.

More than 80 partners enrolled in less than 7 months. Telefónica is now extending this initiative globally starting with Europe before rolling out to other markets.

"We are pleased with the success of the partner programme in the USA," said Rafael García Meiro, Telefónica Digital's Global Partner Sales Unit Director.

"It gives us a richer portfolio of m2m solutions to sell our customers. Now we are deploying our Global Channel Partner Programme in Europe as well. We'll continue moving forward by developing the Programme in other Telefónica regions and adding more Telefónica's products to our portfolio, using the same proven partnership model.

"Ninety additional companies are already in the process of being part of our Channel Partner Programme and the objective for 2014 is to enrol a total of 250 partners."

Alcatel-Lucent made a net profit of €134m in Q4, a rebound from a loss of €1.56bn a year earlier, when the company took over a €1bn in impairment and restructuring charges. Revenue dropped 4.1% to €3.93bn, below forecasts of €4.18bn.

Adjusted operating profit was €307m vs €115m, boosted by higher gross margins and cuts in fixed costs. Operating margin rose +5 percentage points to 7.8%, an improvement that the company expects to continue. Alcatel said it is on track to reach its 2015 targets of becoming cash-flow positive and sustainably profitable.

Alcatel is also in negotiations to sell an 85% holding in its enterprise phone business to existing partner China Huaxin after the investment company made a binding offer that gives the business an enterprise value of €268m.

One question might be whether American authorities will approve the sale of the unit, given the security concerns that the US has over Chinese telecom equipment.

The deal is part of Alcatel's strategy to sell at least €1bn in assets as it refocuses on its most profitable businesses.