Comms Dealer

Computacenter has acquired ServiceNow Gold Services Partner TeamUltra, giving the firm access to an experienced pool of ServiceNow specialists in Europe with over 600 projects and implementations. 

Computacenter CEO Mike Norris said: "Our strategy is focused on enabling users and their business to make digital work.

"Just six months on from announcing our sales and service partnership with ServiceNow, we have made a strategic acquisition to enhance our commitment to the ServiceNow platform, continuing to guide our customers on their digital transformation journey through integrated cloud services.

"The TeamUltra acquisition means that we can link ServiceNow's cloud-based Service Management platform for ITSM, customer service management, security operations, IT operations management and more, with Computacenter's nNext Generation Service Desk (NGSD) and Digital Workplace offering, to transform the end user experience."

TeamUltra will continue to operate independently but will become Computacenter's dedicated ServiceNow delivery capability and customer point of contact for providing managed services, professional services, products and licenses.

Mike Beale, MD of TeamUltra, added: "The acquisition means that we can continue our independent and agile market approach with local decision making support while leveraging our respective expertise and complementary solutions portfolios."

Daniel Osterbergh, Area Vice President, Channel & Alliances, EMEA, ServiceNow, commented: "Today's intelligent connected enterprise operates in a time of unprecedented digital disruption. 

"Through the acquisition of TeamUltra, Computacenter can help customers on their digital transformation journey by using ServiceNow's platform and suite of solutions to enable users for success"

Computacenter's partnership with TeamUltra began in 2016 with the delivery of a series of major project implementations for financial, utility, and pharma clients.

Gaining ISO 27001 certification has reaffirmed Juniper Bridge's commitment to information security, emphasised MD Stephen Larkin.

"ISO 27001 certification is considered a benchmark for standards in data security and provides a tried and tested framework for implementing and managing information security processes," he said. 

"This new accreditation is a key indicator to the channel that risk and data security is at the forefront of Juniper Bridge's long-term vision for security best practice, and gives partners peace of mind following the ever increasing volume of security breaches and cyber threats."

Larkin noted that achieving certification of ISO 27001 is a 'huge deal' for the company. "In the age where security is the biggest threat to businesses, this certification verifies that Juniper Bridge conforms to a standard that protects data integrity," he added.

"More importantly, implementing a best practice framework ensures that risk and data security is always at the forefront of our minds."

Ofcom has announced measures to promote investment in new fibre networks and protect customers from higher prices.

An Ofcom statement said, 'We plan to protect broadband customers and promote competition by cutting the wholesale price that Openreach charge telecoms companies for its superfast broadband service which has a download speed of up to 40 Mbit/s. We would expect these savings to be passed on to residential customers through cheaper prices. This promotes competition in the superfast broadband service most used today by consumers, while companies construct their own full-fibre ultrafast networks to compete with Openreach'.

The regulator proposes to maintain its policy of pricing flexibility for Openreach's fastest broadband products, including those based on BT's own network investments in full-fibre and its new G.Fast technology.

The new rules would also include stricter requirements on Openreach to repair faults and install new broadband lines more quickly.

Jonathan Oxley, Ofcom's Competition Group Director, said: "Our plans are designed to encourage long-term investment in future ultrafast, full-fibre networks, while promoting competition and protecting consumers from high prices.

"People need reliable phone and broadband services more than ever. We're making sure the market is delivering the best possible services for homes and business across the UK."

While protecting consumers Ofcom wants to provide incentives to invest in ultrafast networks, while promoting competition and protecting consumers from high prices.

As more people continue to take superfast broadband over the coming years, Ofcom's analysis shows that the most important package will be one offering a 40 Mbit/s download speed, and 10 Mbit/s upload speed.

Until now, BT's ability to raise prices has been constrained by people's willingness to consider cheaper, standard broadband as an alternative. However, this constraint is weakening, as people require faster, more reliable connections to support a new generation of online services.

So Ofcom intends to reduce Openreach's charges for its '40/10' Mbit/s broadband package, with the price falling from today's level of £88.80 per year to £52.77 in 2020/21. Ofcom expects much of this reduction to be passed through by retail providers to their customers, resulting in lower bills.

Ofcom said that it is not proposing to cap Openreach's wholesale charges for its higher-speed packages including its planned new G.Fast network, as it expects the cap on the 40/10 Mbit/s package should be sufficient to protect competition and protect consumers from higher prices.

Where faults fall on Openreach to fix, Ofcom is proposing that it will in future be required to complete 93% of fault repairs within one to two working days of being notified, compared with 80% today. Ccomplete 97% of repairs no later than six or seven working days; provide an appointment for 90% of new line installations within 10 working days of being notified, compared to 80% within 12 days currently; and install 95% of connections on the date agreed between Openreach and the telecoms provider, up from 90% today.

These new requirements would need to be met in full by 2020/21. Ofcom has also proposed transitional targets to ensure progressive improvements in service before then. Ofcom will monitor Openreach's performance closely and step in if the required standards are not met.

Businesses with 500 employees could be losing over $5m annually, claims Mitel in a survey into the cost of inadequate enterprise communications and collaboration capabilities.

The independent survey, conducted by Webtorials, analysed the ways people interact both inside and outside an organisation across North America and Europe and concluded that the yearly impact of losses in productivity costs firms $11,000 on average per employee.

Employees spend more than two-thirds of their day communicating and collaborating, yet lose almost 15% of total work time.

In an age where users are a screen tap away from connecting to other people, businesses are faced with many choices for enabling employees to communicate. This often leads to a mashup of conflicting and incompatible applications and tools. The result - productivity suffers and teamwork breaks down as silos appear and galvanise across organisations.

Chat and IM remain a challenge for businesses given the inconsistency of applications. When reviewing collaboration tools, IT decision-makers need to ensure employees, and those outside the organiSation who engage with the business, are using an interface that can tie together disparate platforms and applications. Bringing these together can save businesses money and provide a path to digital transformation.

Employees spend most of their communications time reading and replying to email. This suggests email remains the default tool despite the fact new enterprise applications that combine collaboration, chat, video and voice in a consistent workflow are becoming more prevalent. Lack of interoperability across platforms continues to make email the 'go to' mode of communications, even as it is being stretched beyond its initial purpose.
Quotes

"This study underscores the alarming cost of poor communications and collaboration, and how companies of all sizes are artificially constrained by the very tools that were intended to improve their ability to be productive," said Bob Agnes, EVP & President of Enterprise Division, Mitel.

"For a company with 500 employees, as an example, the typical cost of inefficient communications is well over $5 million (USD) per year as outlined in our report," said Steven Taylor, Founder and CEO, Webtorials. "While there is no communications and collaboration infrastructure that can recover all of this expense, a careful examination of methods and systems can have an immense payoff in potentially recouping millions of dollars."

The winners in the European IT & Software Excellence Awards 2017 have been revealed at a gala dinner in London on 30th March.

"Not only did we have a record number of entries and votes from the industry, but the quality was even higher than previous years and confirms our view that Europe has entered a new era of IT confidence," said John Garratt, Editor of IT Europa and head of the judges panel.

"It is up to us as an industry to take these ideas out to the market, to show the general media, politicians and governments that the industry is not all about security threats and scare stories, but regularly delivers great productivity gains to ordinary businesses and people. The evidence is in the projects that we have highlighted with our selection of finalists and winners."

Now in their ninth year, the European IT & Software Excellence Awards 2017 attracted more than 500 entries. The awards were given for IT solutions that get to the heart of customer issues, delivering better business, a clearer understanding of data, and more efficient and profitable outcomes. 100 companies from 28 countries were represented among the finalists.

The categories and winners are...

Solution Provider section:

Big Data, IoT or Analytics Solution of the Year: Zizo Software

Connected/Mobility Solution of the Year: Capita

Customer Experience/Management Solution: RapidValue Solutions

Datacentre Solution of the Year: APC by Schneider Electric

Enterprise Solution of the Year: Unit4

Managed Service Solution of the Year: Air-IT

Public Sector and Utilities Solution of the Year: 4net Technologies

Security Solution of the Year: NSFOCUS

SME Solution of the year: 123 Insight Limited

Storage/Information Management Solution of the Year: Tech Mahindra

Vertical Solution of the Year: Sequel Business Solutions

ISV categories

Big Data, IoT or Analytics Solution of the Year: PureClarity

Connected/Mobility Application Solution of the Year: Totalmobile

Government/Utilities Solution of the Year: Sorsix International

Information & Document Management Solution of the Year: IBA Group

SaaS Solution of the Year: ConnectWise

Software Innovation Solution of the Year: Datawright

Vertical Market Solution of the Year: ContentGuru

Supplier categories

Distributor of the Year: Tech Data

Service Provider of the Year: SolarWinds MSP

Finance/Support Services Provider of the Year: BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions

Security Vendor of the Year: Avast

Software Vendor of the Year: Microsoft

Connected Technologies Vendor of the Year: Cisco

Technology Vendor of the Year: Dell-EMC

Channel Programme of the Year: Amazon Web Services

Invosys has entered the Northern Top Tech 100 list, a ranking of the top 100 fastest growing tech companies in the north which includes companies such as Skyscanner, Missguided, On The Beach and UKFast.

Invosys CEO Rob Booth said: "We're a communications technology company specialising in feature-rich call management solutions within our advanced network, and we are constantly developing and evolving beautifully simple software that just works.

"Our entry on the Northern Top Tech List 100 is testament to the innovation and development we strive for, along with the hard work of our team."

Merseyside-based YRoam has launched in the UK aiming to cut the cost of roaming for mobile users in more than 100 countries.

The first product to come to market is the YR4, a portable device that connects to local 3G and 4G networks to create a secure personal Wi-Fi hotspot.

YRoam uses Cloud SIM technology to locate local networks that offer the most affordable rates and can connect up to five devices simultaneously with a range of up to 50 metres.

The YR4 also doubles as a power bank so the user can stay online and connected throughout their trip.

YRoam MD Matt Agrimi said: "We will be working with businesses to supply YR4 devices to all their staff as well as helping the individual traveller get online while they're abroad."

Ireland-based open access network operator enet is to invest £175k into Belfast and the greater Northern Ireland telecoms infrastructure.

The Belfast network which is live and fully operational combines enet's wireless network with a fibre presence covering all the main business districts including the city centre, Titanic Quarter.

The new network also extends outside Belfast to surrounding areas.

enet is planning to continue to develop the Northern Ireland network by interconnecting with several network providers.

Conal Henry, enet CEO, said: "This marks the first time that enet has managed infrastructure across the island of Ireland.

"enet's experience is that, over time, the existence of an open access network has a vital and major impact on the range, quality and value of communications solutions for businesses and homes."

This Northern Ireland announcement follows on from enet's first entry into the UK market in partnership with SSE Enterprise Telecoms.

Warrington-based hotel Wi-Fi company Airangel has secured a £1.7m funding package from Santander Corporate & Commercial to fund growth overseas.

Airangel has opened a new office in Dubai and is fast expanding across EMEA and Asia in response to demand for its software platform MyAirangel.

The cloud-based platform enables guests to access fast Wi-Fi connections while providing hoteliers and property owners with data insights that help them to engage more with customers and personalise the guest experience.

Airangel manages Wi-Fi connections in over 100,000 hotel rooms or apartments in 27 countries and has 18 million registered users.

CEO Dean Wilkinson said: "In the digital age, connectivity is central to the guest experience and a key factor in peoples' choice of hotel."

Maintel's indirect and channel sales division, Partner Services, experienced 63% organic growth in 2016, making it the fastest growing part of the Maintel Group.

The group has over 400 technical and support staff in the UK with accredited engineers across the Avaya portfolio and technical staff covering vendors including Genesys, CallMedia, Palo Alto and Red Box, as well as a range of legacy telephony environments.

Chris Bain, Director of Maintel Partner Services, said: "In 2016 we worked with over 90 channel partners on thousands of end customer requirements in the UK and internationally. We can manage projects and guarantee SLAs across the globe."