Comms Dealer

The Cisco 2014 Annual Security Report finds that not only is there a worldwide shortage of nearly a million skilled security professionals, but threats designed to take advantage of users' trust have reached startling levels. Overall vulnerabilities and threats are at their most numerous since 2000.

As a consequence, organisations worldwide are facing a struggle in their ability to address security gaps, monitor and secure networks.

The Cisco 2014 Annual Security Report highlights current security concerns, such as shifts in malware, trends in vulnerabilities, and the rising ferocity of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. In addition it provides tips and guidance to keep enterprise technology environments more secure.

• An increased sophistication and proliferation of the threat landscape - simple attacks causing containable damage have given way to organised, well-funded and targeted attacks which are difficult to detect and capable of causing major disruption
• An increasing complexity of threats and solutions - due to rapid growth in intelligent mobile device adoption and cloud computing providing a greater attack surface than ever before
• Cybercriminals have learned that harnessing the power of Internet infrastructure yields far more benefits than simply gaining access to individual computers or devices - by targeting Internet infrastructure, attackers undermine trust in everything connected to or enabled by it.

Dean Douglas, the former CEO of Westcon Group, has begun his tenure as CEO of Unify (formerly Siemens Enterprise Communications) and he wasted no time in setting out his vision for the company based on evangelising the pros of working in a 'new way'.

"We're in a dynamically changing market, driven largely by trends around the rise of the anywhere worker, bring your own device (BYOD), and the role of millennials in the workforce," Douglas said.

"Users are demanding intuitive apps, instant gratification from technology, and the ability to work from anywhere with seamless collaboration across multiple devices.

"These big trends have created an environment where today's businesses are faced with the challenges, and opportunities, of meeting the demand for the new way to work. 

"At Unify, we see these issues moving to the top of the priority list for c-level executives as they seek improved productivity, manage for top talent and drive for competitive differentiation."

"I'm determined to strengthen Unify's position in technology and communications, where we already enjoy the benefits of great customers, our Siemens heritage, and our OpenScape platform.

"I also plan to make Unify a leader among communications software companies in the collaboration space with Project Ansible."
 

A new study by market analysts Plimsoll indicates that confidence is sweeping back into the UK telecommunication services industry.

Latest figures show that, despite only a third of firms increasing sales and one in three improving profits, opportunity waits for those that know where to look.

Leading this change are a group of 65 firms who are delivering growth rates of up to 8% with their market share also jumping from 5% to 6 % in just two years.

Plimsoll's findings concluded that 65 firms have seen their sales increase by over 8%. These 65 firms now sell on average £15 million per year up from £10 million two years ago. And of the 888 firms analysed, the average sales increase is only 2.7%. However, only 447 companies have increased their sales.

David Pattison, Plimsoll's senior analyst, said: "It is essential that businesses look for areas of growth in the market and see how they can keep up with the leaders.

"These 65trail-blazing firms are heading-up the new direction of the market and the other companies will take note of those 65 companies. With salaries up and gross margins down it's clear as costs grow then sales need to increase to pay for it."

Consolidation, new technologies, changing business models and skills shortages will create major challenges for established supply networks, according to ICT market researcher IT Europa in its just-launched 'Top 10 IT Europa European Channel Predictions for 2014' report.

Report highlights include:
• PCs continue to lose ground to other platforms, even in the enterprise - the impact of new form factors, falling prices and squeezed margins will continue to pile pressure on traditional resellers.

• Software and ISVs gain influence over platforms - increasingly it will be software that dictates the choice of technologies with more and more of it available as-a-service.

• Vendors seek new ways to gain customer influence, starting to use Big Data analysis tools - increasing use of business intelligence and marketing automation will move from enterprise sector into SME potentially threatening traditional lines of channel communications .

• Distributor consolidation and product area diversification continues, matched by emergence of new specialist players - continuing pressures on margin and the impact of the Cloud will further drive a race to scale, to expand coverage, grab niche players and reduce competition.

• Questions on how channels charge for knowledge and advice find few answers - further cloud penetration of the SME sector and the continued growth in Hybrid IT will increase the demand for integration skills but with increasing commoditisation of product and the continued growth in on-line ordering how will it be charged for?

• New types of server and server supply models emerge - growth in the supply of specialist bespoke servers, particularly for datacentre applications will cause problems for channels as they become marginalised.

• Security and mobility stay favourite areas for start-ups; expect plenty of issues and scares - growth and increasing penetration of mobile technologies is set to continue but the need to secure mixed networked environments will perhaps spur even greater growth.

• Machine-to-machine, particularly wearables, exhibit rapid growth but channel impact is limited - new technologies and applications will abound but few will fit easily with traditional channels and new routes to market will emerge.

• Enterprise apps and their marketplaces abound, but with uncertain quality - increasing mobile penetration will drive demand for apps to link corporate data but quality, security, licensing, management, payment systems and support will become issues.

• Demand for skills in the channel creates shortages, provoking more M&A activity across frontiers - investment in training has been hard hit during the recent recession, as growth returns it will highlight shortages in skills in such areas as application development, networking and integration.

"The pace of technological advance and changing supply and business models are combining to create a perfect storm of challenges for traditional routes to market," commented Alan Norman, Managing Director of IT Europa. "Further casualties, an increase in M&A activity and the emergence of new channels can all be expected in the year ahead."

Many of the issues behind some of these trends and predictions will provide the focus of discussions during some of IT Europa's forthcoming events including the European ISV Convention 2014 which takes place at the Lancaster London Hotel, on 26 March 2014.

ISVs wishing to attend the convention and vendors or service providers interested in sponsorship opportunities can find further information at: www.isvconvention.com

Channel Telecom has implemented its first 150 plus seat hosted VoIP telephony solution for a customer with a multi-site operation.

The implementation included data connectivity as well as voice.

Tim Nelson, Head of IP Voice for Channel Telecom, stated: "This is more evidence proving that the doubters who said hosted telephony wouldn't have appeal above the 20 extension market were wrong. We have now implemented multiple 100-plus seat hosted solutions, but this is the biggest to date.

"Customers are now aware of the technology and are asking about it first, and more dealers are promoting it. The general move to cloud services and the reliability of Ethernet connectivity is convincing everyone that hosted voice is a mature technology that can be deployed without risk. In fact there are positive business continuity benefits.

"Even dyed-in-the-wool PBX resellers are waking up to the fact that recurring revenue is better than a one off tin sale.

"Trends such as fixed-mobile convergence and UC collaboration are naturally better delivered via a cloud based solution. Customers now see the benefits of presence information across a multisite network and they want that technology.

"In fact customers are now running ahead of us and asking questions like, 'can we have a solution that automatically logs outgoing calls to our CRM system?'.

The typical customer wants more sophistication than a year ago. Hosted solutions are infinitely scalable, both up and down. They are simple to upgrade and they generate a valuable recurring revenue stream for our partners. The trend is irresistible."

Cloud Service Provider Outsourcery has signed a strategic partnership with Vodafone following a 12 month business integration process. The strategic partnership will enable Vodafone to resell Outsourcery's Microsoft-based cloud services, including full Enterprise Voice Lync Server, Exchange Server and related professional services.

The strategic relationship has been expanded beyond the original UK focus to include Vodafone's global enterprise customer base, which required further integration work than had been originally envisaged. 

The agreement of the strategic partnership will now allow both Outsourcery and Vodafone to focus on revenue generating opportunities.

Piers Linney, Co-CEO, Outsourcery, said: "We are pleased to have completed the integration work and signed this agreement with such a key strategic partner, as further testament to our expertise and capability as a provider of enterprise-grade cloud services.

"Although the original tender response related to the UK market, we are also pleased that the relationship has been extended to include Vodafone's global enterprise customer base."

The IP video surveillance and VSaaS market is expected to reach $57.3bn (€42.1bn) by 2020, according to the newest study by consultancy Allied Market Research (AMR).

IP surveillance market is the most advanced in developed countries where it is expected to replace soon the analogue surveillance systems, the study says. North America is predicted to experience the highest share in it by 2020 and will generate a market with a value of $18.7m (€13.7m).

However, the Asia Pacific region is also growing fast and is expected to generate the highest CAGR 44.3% in the years 2013-2020.

AMR has also stressed that this market segment is undergoing a significant change in developing countries which means there is a potential for the future.

IP surveillance hardware market is expected to be the highest revenue-generating segment with estimated revenues of $24.3bn (€17.8bn).

"IP Surveillance system is widely accepted in developed markets and the adoption rate is expected to increase in developing markets such as Asia-Pacific. Government and higher security segment is expected to adopt IP surveillance system at a faster pace during the analysis period, growing at a CAGR of 39.2% from 2013 to 2020. Banking and financial institutes are expected to be the highest revenue generating segment within the application market," says AMR analyst Bryan Olson.

Channel-only UK SIP carrier tIPicall has introduced a new in-country SIP trunking product now available across 13 European countries.

Having previously provided European businesses with international trunks terminating in the UK, tIPicall can now offer the same service with local breakout.

This removes previous barriers by guaranteeing in-country emergency services dialing, non-geographic numbers and short codes services such as Direct Enquiries.

This product is offered in addition to tIPicall's expanding international numbering capability which currently stands at 81 countries with geographic capability and 100-plus with freephone numbers available to be terminated to any device internationally while presenting international CLIs.

The service means a client with a European presence can have one supplier for all its telephony with free international inter-site calling whilst also guaranteeing no service degradation from its current local ISDN service with the guarantee that all in-country calling routes are open and local CLI is always displayed.

This allows tIPicall's partners to provide a single billing solution for their end customer as well as a much larger breadth of opportunities which are not available with most other SIP carriers in the UK.

Guy Miller, Product Manager for Hosted Services, said: "International SIP trunks have for some time been the preserve of clients with large inter-site spend or a calling base outside its host country. While that has proved a fruitful market, it only accounts for a tiny percentage of the pan-European market. This service ensures we can increase the target base tenfold offering yet another differentiator to our partners.

"Guaranteeing local emergency service coverage is everything when it comes to a true European ISDN or local SIP provider replacement and this has finally arrived."

The European countries where tIPicall can provide this service are the UK and Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark as well as Italy.

The Machine-to-Machine market is set for significant growth 30% in volume and over 10% in revenue, with the market to reach €40bn in 2017.

The 6th edition of IDATE's M2M Market report, covering 2013-2017, reveals that a healthy growth rate has finally taken hold in this promising but until recently, under performing market. This performance is being spurred by increased use within the main areas of application (automotive, consumer electronics and utilities) and is expected to accelerate even further over the next five years as M2M spreads to other sectors of activity.

The M2M market1 represented 175 million modules worldwide in 2013, generating €24.2bn in revenue, which translates in to an annual growth rate of 31% in volume and 11% in revenue. The bulk of revenue was generated by software and IT developments which together accounted for two-thirds of total market value.

IDATE forecasts that global M2M market volume will grow by an average of close to 30% annually between now and 2017, which corresponds to 470 million modules, while market revenue will climb by 13% a year on average, to reach €40 billion.

Europe will be the biggest market in terms of revenue, ahead of North America, even if Asia-Pacific will continue to dominate in terms of volume. At the end of 2013, China rose to the number one spot in number of cellular M2M modules installed, overtaking the US.

Over the next few years, the M2M market's growth will be shaped by three key verticals: automotive, consumer electronics and utilities, says the report. 

While they will theoretically drive the market, certain barriers could nevertheless obstruct their growth. Several long-awaited applications in these key markets have been repeatedly delayed, such as Europe's eCall regulation and large-scale rollouts by utilities.

Added to which certain technical choices can have a tremendous impact on the market, a good example being smart meters connected to the cellular network through a concentrator that would allow large utility companies to further increase their already massive negotiating clout to drive down per-unit prices.

But utilities will dominate the M2M market in 2017 in terms of module numbers, all technologies combined. The rise of M2M in consumer electronics will have a major impact on the market as a whole, especially on the number of active modules. Because it is a de facto mass market, consumer electronics will represent the largest number of modules, all technologies combined.

The market offers M2M application providers with very attractive opportunities, despite the already relatively low and declining average revenue per user (ARPU). The projects have a long lifespan, very low churn rates and average contracts representing several thousand SIM cards. Connectivity alone is expected to represent €10 billion worldwide in 2017, and more than 3% of European telcos' mobile data revenue.

MVNOs are being pushed out of the market and so repositioning themselves as platform providers, while module providers will have to adapt to a market where unit prices are in free fall. Meanwhile, the top telcos are exploring new cloud and big data services that would allow them to find solid and sustainable new business opportunities.

A growth rate of 453% has secured iHub 320th place in the 2013 Deloitte Fast 500 EMEA Rankings. The recognition follows a top 50 finish in the 2012 Deloitte UK Fast50 rankings.

iHub CEO Mike Webb said: "To be recognised for our growth in the Deloitte Technology rankings for the second consecutive year is a tremendous achievement and demonstrates the proliferation of hosted telephony, as well as the dedication and hard work the iHub team."

Webb noted that the company has invested heavily in its network and hosting solution, and reaffirmed his commitment to system and portal development.

"With the uptake of cloud based applications and the increasing trend towards the mobile workforce set to continue, iHub are well positioned to benefit from further growth in 2014," he added.