Comms Dealer

D-Link has announced the appointment of Paul Routledge to lead its growth strategy in the UK and Ireland (UKI). He will be in charge of driving the UKI sales and marketing teams to meet the company's ambitious growth plans.

Routledge has been with D-Link for over three years, previously responsible for European Business Development, spearheading tremendous growth in IP Surveillance and Storage solutions across Europe. He will use this extensive vendor and channel experience to now focus on the UKI market.

Routledge said: "This is an exciting new challenge for me. UKI is one of D-Link's biggest potential growth markets in Europe and I'm looking forward to the challenge of expanding our footprint here further. D-Link offers innovative solutions to both businesses and consumers and I want to ensure we exceed the expectations of our customers in all of their dealings with us."

He will report into Luigi Salmoiraghi, Sales and Marketing Director Southern Europe and UKI, who added: "Paul has been key to driving D-Link growth in the IP surveillance and storage markets across Europe. Now he can capitalise on his experience and lead the UKI team to achieve organic and sustainable growth in the traditional channel, while developing new business opportunities and partnerships."

Routledge has over 20 years of experience developing channels in the UK and across Europe. Before his appointment at D-Link he held Business Development and Channel Sales Management roles with vendors and distribution partners including CCI Distribution, Adaptec and Eurologic Systems.

The number of Samsung systems shipped by Nimans reached an all time high in 2013 with a record breaking Q4.

SIP trunks account for around 35% off all installed trunk ports on Samsung systems and the distributor expects this trend to continue following the launch of a dedicated SIP trunk service.

The OfficeServ7200 system which serves up to 128 extensions had a record month towards the end of the year with sales growing 100% against monthly averages.

Nimans' Head of Category Sales, Paul Burn, says IP handset growth continues to gather pace with in excess of 40% of all Samsung handsets being shipped now IP. 

"With the introduction of the Samsung IES4028 and IES4024 PoE switches Nimans will be able to offer a fully Samsung branded IP system and applications suite further driving the Samsung IP offering.

"We ended 2013 with a bang and expect similar levels of performance this year as Nimans strengthens its reputation as the place to come for Samsung solutions."

Chris Huggett has joined Alternative Networks as Group Sales Director, moving from HP where he was Networking Sales Director for the last six years.

Prior to that he was VP UK and East EMEA for 3Com and was promoted following the acquisition of 3Com by HP.

Huggett has also held enterprise sales director roles at Vodafone, Dell and Cisco.

Edward Spurrier, Chief Executive Officer of Alternative Networks, commented: "Chris brings a wealth of experience and sales leadership from market leading businesses."

UK-based Prodec Networks, mobile data connectivity and wireless networks solutions specialist, has announced its new partnership with Aruba Networks.

Thanks to this deal, Prodec will strengthen its unified communications offering, it says.

As an Aruba's silver partner, Prodec will offer the full suits of Aruba products and solutions as well as managed service of two solutions.

Jabra's primary headsets and speakerphones now offer fully integrated call-control with the latest Cisco Jabber 9.6 for Windows.

Jabra is also the first headset vendor to complete the Cisco certification process, which allows Jabra to provide a complete USB, Bluetooth and DECT offering on key audio devices.

With the launch of Cisco Jabber 9.6, Jabra has stepped up the competition within headset manufacturers worldwide to deliver compatible headset call-control functionalities. 

Jabra is the first to announce built-in drivers with Cisco Jabber. Earlier this year, Jabra was also the first to launch the PC Suite based call-control for Cisco Jabber 9.2.

The built-in Jabra driver will allow for seamless installation, without the external drivers to complicate a mass-deployment.

Jabra's fully integrated call-control with Cisco Jabber is the latest step in the continued integration of Jabra audio devices with Cisco solutions, which enable businesses to make an easy choice on communication infrastructure and increase the productivity of their end-users at the same time.

The continued compatibility updates are the result of Jabra's participation in the Cisco Developer Network Programme, which unites Cisco with third-party developers of hardware and software to deliver tested interoperable solutions to joint customers. As a Preferred Solution Developer, Jabra is continuously working with Cisco to deliver new solutions that offer end-users with all the benefits of unified communication.

"Building on Cisco's software and Jabra's headsets, businesses will have a broader portfolio of validated solutions designed to meet their individual needs and budget requirements," said Chris Briglin, Vice President of Strategic Alliances at Jabra.

A bureau billing service introduced late in 2012 by Union Street Technologies continues to prove popular, says the firm, which now provides bureau billing to 40 clients, roughly ten per cent of its total customer base, with five more customers in the pipeline.

To keep pace with demand Union Street has appointed Steve Lale as Bureau Team Manager to oversee the service. He has worked in the telecoms industry for over eight years, six of which spent in the billing software arena.

He said: "Our bureau service provides a cost effective way to reduce the workload involved in a billing run and frees up staff to concentrate on their core roles.

"Many clients have also reported an increase in their margins thanks to the knowledge and expertise of our bureau team and their commitment to best practices.

"One area of the bureau service that I'm keen to develop is reporting, so in 2014 there's going to be a big focus on margin analysis with the aim of helping our bureau customers to get the most from our aBILLity software."

Openreach has named Joe Garner as its new CEO. Joining in mid-February he is to replace Liv Garfield who leaves to become CEO of Severn Trent. Garner brings substantial commercial, operational and regulatory experience having worked for many years at HSBC, Dixons and Procter & Gamble.

His most recent role was at HSBC where as head of the UK Bank he helped lead HSBC successfully through the financial crisis, rebuilding profitability and strengthening the balance sheet.

In this role, Garner also drove some of the highest customer satisfaction levels in high street banking, including at the UK's No.1 bank for service, first direct, and was responsible for launching M&S Bank. Under his leadership, HSBC in the UK achieved the best long-term record on customer complaints amongst the major banks as well as industry-beating levels of employee engagement.

Garner has significant experience of working in a strictly regulated industry and of dealing with regulators, not least through his role as Chairman of the Financial Services Authority's Practitioner Panel.

This experience will be useful given Openreach is one of the most heavily regulated businesses in the UK, providing all communications providers with equal access to BT's network and operating at arm's length from the rest of the BT Group.

Garner said: "I am thrilled to be joining Openreach at such a critical moment - a moment when technology is redefining how our society communicates.

"The massive investment that Openreach is making in the UK's high speed internet infrastructure is something of a revolution that will greatly benefit people and businesses in this country.

"I am grateful to my predecessor and the engineers who have already delivered so much. It is my ambition to build on this work and I intend to focus on customer service, continued innovation and maintaining fair and equal access for all."

Gavin Patterson, BT Group CEO said: "I am delighted to welcome Joe to the team. His experience of managing a large regulated business with a substantial workforce will help us as we expand our fibre optic network into rural areas. He will also ensure that Openreach continues to play a vital role in supporting businesses, consumers and communities the length and breadth of the country."

Vapour Media was expanded staff numbers following the appointment of two new additions.

Carol McGrotty has joined the firm as Operations Manager, bringing with her 10 years experience in the industry working as a project manager at Virgin Media Business.

And Kevin Homar has been taken on as a Sales Executive. He boasts over 11 years experience working at Virgin Media Business specialising in the SME market providing connectivity and voice business solutions.

Tim Mercer, co-founder and Director, said: "Having worked with Carol for over 10 years I am excited about bringing her into our growing team. She has a wealth of industry knowledge and is tasked with developing and managing our operations delivery team.

"Kevin has been brought in to grow our partner channel and strengthen partner relations. His industry knowledge of the telecoms SME market will be invaluable to Vapour."

A new version of a call blocker that prevents unwanted communications at the touch of a button is available exclusively through the channel from Nimans.

The unit now features a large Block Now button and built-in caller display screen blocks nuisance calls using DECT extension handsets.

The device comes pre-programmed with 200 numbers of the worst known offenders and has the facility to block an additional 1,000.

The unit is also fax compatible and has been developed by CPR Global (The Call Prevention Registry) which is the UK's leading anti-nuisance call service provider.

Nimans' Purchasing Director, Andy Winfield, said: "The CPR Call Blocker is an easy to set-up all-in-one everyday product which helps retain privacy in the home or office, providing Caller ID is active. Silent calls, recorded messages, harassment, malicious and calls from overseas call centres can all be stopped in an instant along with PPI calls, international, unavailable and withheld numbers as well as automated robo calls.

"Call blocking technology is becoming big business and offers resellers a great way to add to their existing revenue streams. A larger Block Now button is located on top of the unit which when pressed, cuts off a caller in their prime with the number logged into its memory and permanently blocked. The device can also reject any caller who withholds their number. 85% of people receive nuisance calls. It's an area of the market too big for resellers to ignore."

Here's some good news if you're keen to get your sales people clued up on call management. in partnership with NEC, Exertis Micro-P is running an NEC Mycalls Technical and Sales Training course on 4th February 2014, completely  free of charge
 
The one-day course, which would normally cost £150 to attend, has been developed for resellers who can send both a sales and engineering delegate to the event..
 
The sales person will undergo training on how to sell the call management and call recording solutions whilst the engineering delegate will be educated in how to install and configure the solution to the customers' requirements
 
John Bird, Head of Systems and Support Services at Exertis Micro-P told Comms Dealer: "This free of charge course will allow our resellers to increase order values by incorporating call management as part of the solutions they offer their customers. This is an ideal opportunity for resellers wishing to on board with NEC to do so with no barrier to entry.
 
Bird added "Exertis Micro-P has, in the last 10 months, won over 10 of the leading industry awards, ranging from IT, Retail and Mobile distributor of the year to UC Convergence Distributor of the Year and Best Channel Installer and Maintainer.

?"We have built a reputation of offering multi-vendor end-to-end voice, data and mobile solutions for the channel and we will continue to offer bespoke training courses and best in the channel pre and post- sales support to aide our resellers in specifying and delivering these UC solutions to their end users."
 
For those interested in attending the Free Call Management training please email comms.nec@exertismicro-p.co.uk