Comms Dealer

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.

Nimans' Network Services division has a new mantra for 2014 and will be beating the 'Operational Excellence' drum as the next phase in its growth strategy.

"Last year we committed to improving service to our resellers and in the most part we delivered on that promise," explained Mark Curtis-Wood, Head of Network Services.

"We invested heavily into additional resources and now have better visibility and control of our in-house service team. This was delivered alongside continued growth in our reseller channel and specifically the Wholesale Mobile side of our business. Overall we had our best year ever for Nimans Network Services.

"This year as we build on improvements made in 2013, I want to step up the expectation and the focus will be on 'Operational Excellence'. We have launched an internal initiative to drive this forward already and work has commenced on an online portal to ensure we deliver more automation of some of our manual processes."

Curtis-Wood noted a number of trends - the rise of Machine 2 Machine (M2M), Mobile Device Management (MDM) and the shift to users becoming more mobile (Mobility).

"In light of this we are advising resellers to have a closer look at the growing influence of tablets which are great for capturing notes, displaying images and presentations and allowing users to travel light as they can integrate applications on one device as opposed to switching between a mobile and laptop," he added.

"We are continuing to invest and grow the channel at a time when other industries are restricting business, as we enable our partners to sell many different services, which means we all can expect an even bigger and better 2014."

ScanSource Communications has been awarded Distributor of the Year in the UK by Avaya based on its year-over-year growth, expansion of IP Office business and support to resellers.

Barry Tuffs, Sales Leader, Avaya UK, said: "With all the economic challenges we saw in FY13 there was one distributor, ScanSource, that managed some outstanding performances with year-over-year growth and the highest network/IP Office attach rates.

"ScanSource continues to invest in the Avaya brand and is a worthy winner of this year's distributor of the year award."

Enterprise software is the winner in IDC's latest picture of IT spending in 2014. According to the new International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Black Book, IT spending will be inhibited by the economic slowdown in emerging markets in 2014, in addition to an inevitable deceleration in the growth of smartphones and tablets.

IDC has lowered its forecasts for IT market growth in Asia Pacific (including China), Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, driving down its forecast for Worldwide IT spending growth to 4.6% this year in constant currency terms (down from the previous forecast of 5%). With currency devaluation and inflation likely to inhibit business confidence in many emerging economies in the first half of this year, and with the explosive growth of mobile devices having begun to inevitably cool from the breakneck pace of the past 2-3 years, overall industry growth will dip slightly from last year's pace of 4.8%.

While overall industry growth has cooled, some areas of tech spending are heating up as businesses in mature economies including the US and Western Europe, begin to invest in overdue infrastructure upgrades and replacements. Spending on servers will increase by 3%, after last year's decline of 4%, and storage spending will also grow by 3% this year (following a 0.5% decline in 2013). The PC market is showing tentative signs of stabilisation, with improving commercial shipments in mature markets. The increased pace of hardware investment will have a positive effect on IT services revenue, which is forecasted to post growth of 4% this year (up from 3% in 2013). Enterprise software spending remains broadly strong, with growth still expected in the range of 6-7%. Excluding mobile phones, IT spending growth will actually accelerate in 2014 from 2.9% last year (excluding phones) to 3.4% this year.

"The inevitable slowdown in the explosive pace of smartphones and tablets is masking an underlying improvement in many areas of IT spending," said Stephen Minton, Vice President in IDC's Global Technology and Industry Research Organization (GTIRO). "Businesses in mature economies are beginning to feel more confident about the economy compared to a year ago, and this is translating into new IT investments. There's significant pent-up demand in the US and Europe for infrastructure upgrades, capacity and bandwidth investments, and overdue replacement cycles. Many businesses will choose to fix the roof while the sun is shining in 2014."

Exchange rate volatility is likely to exert a strong influence over IT revenues for global suppliers this year (in US dollar terms, the IT market grew by just 2.8% in 2013, compared to 4.8% in constant currency, due to the strength of the dollar). It's too early to predict whether the dollar will remain strong throughout 2014, but the Fed's decision to begin tapering its QE program will clearly exert a strong influence in the first half of the year. Not only will this create volatility for IT vendors during earnings season, but it may also create economic instability in key emerging markets.

"What goes up, must come down, and emerging markets have been on the down slope since last year," continued Minton. "The good news is that, at the same time, mature economies have stabilised significantly. The US seems to be heading in the right direction, and the worst of the crisis may be over in Europe. While growth in mature economies will still lag emerging markets in most cases, the balance of risks has shifted considerably."

Despite the pickup in mature economies, there are still significant inhibitors that will mean that IT spending growth remains moderate by historical standards. Cannibalisation remains a broad trend, impacting everything from PCs (tablets) to software and services (Cloud) and ensuring major disruption for individual vendors. Price erosion and commoditisation in hardware have spread to mobile devices. While showing signs of bottoming out, the PC market continues to post year-on-year declines in revenue terms, and telecom infrastructure investment remains tepid in many countries as carriers compete for a more mature customer base.

"Any increase in the sense of uncertainty surrounding the global economy, will only add to cannibalisation and price erosion in the near term," said Minton. "IT buyers are already taking a long time to evaluate major IT projects, and focusing on ways to 'do more with less' in the face of frugal CIO budgeting. The industry remains vulnerable to an economic slowdown."

An eBook produced by Entanet aims to help resellers better understand the market for IP VPNs and comes following a period in which the company has witnessed a sharp rise in demand for VPN solutions.

Darren Farnden, Head of Marketing, said: "Over the past year we've helped hungry partners increase their pipeline of high value IP VPN business by 50%.

"We've been guiding them on how to identify opportunities, scope requirements and sell solutions effectively. That approach is working and we think more partners could benefit. The demand is clearly there, it's just that many customers don't know about the benefits of IP VPNs."

Farnden says that by getting a good understanding of the business benefits, resellers can approach customers with confidence and build good relationships.

"If they can help the customer see the positive impact an IP VPN can deliver, resellers can add genuine value and create good long-term relationships with 'sticky' customers that will provide a strong base for the future of their own business and support their growth plans."

To help resellers get started and introduce its IP VPN services, Entanet produced the eBook, called 'An insight into IP VPNs', designed to highlight the advantages and benefits of the solution and will help resellers to gain the level of understanding and confidence they need to talk customers through the options.

More companies are warming to the idea of moving their comms services to the cloud but despite this growing level of confidence the thought of migrating their finance and accounting applications sends a chill wind through them.

According to cloud service provider Outsourcery it is the channel’s job to ease concerns over the transfer of financial applications to the cloud.

The Cloud Industry Forum says concerns are prevalent with up to 83% of businesses not adopting hosted or cloud-based services for accounting and finance applications.

Adam Cathcart, Head of Channel at Outsourcery, noted: "Moving applications to the cloud has become a popular choice for many companies but there is a clear tendency for many businesses to keep their financial applications in-house.

"This could be because they are concerned about adhering to specific regulatory requirements but the message needs to be conveyed that cloud can be configured to meet this type of business need.

"The problem for VARs is to make sure that they understand these regulatory issues and explain the options to their customers clearly.\"

According to Cathcart the perception of regulatory obligations may in many cases be misleading in terms of their complexity. "For example, a requirement as simple as making sure you know where your data is stored, or ensuring it is stored in the UK, can easily be achieved by choosing the right CSP,\" he added.

"As the channel becomes more comfortable talking to end users about the details of cloud and the options for different applications, the perceived risks will begin to be expelled.\"