Comms Dealer

Nimans has kicked off a campaign convoy across SIP territory and training resellers 'to get it right' is at the forefront of its strategy.

"The Nimans proposition gives resellers access to a range of network-based products and a strong platform to capture a bigger share of the growing SIP market, based on training and accreditation to ensure they get it right," stated Mark Curtis-Wood, Head of Network Services at Nimans.

"Training for deployment is crucial so we are placing great importance on providing learning sessions to provide resellers with the confidence and knowledge to move forward from both sales and engineering perspectives."

The Nimans SIP service has been fully tested for Panasonic, Samsung, NEC, Aastra and iQ PBX systems, with more to follow. Sales and engineering training courses will run throughout 2014 and a SIP connectivity guide is also being produced.

"The whole sales process has shifted," added Curtis-Wood. "Resellers need to understand what the client wants to put a solution together and deliver it.

"It's about creating a holistic solution. Conversations often start off about how SIP can cut ISDN costs by 25%. But it's really about flexibility, disaster recovery and number portability, and it's still cheaper than ISDN."

Users of the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Office RCE communication server are able to download a 60-day free trial of My IC Social Networks, a Microsoft Outlook plug-in that allows SMBs to adopt a unified social media collaboration communications strategy to integrate all internal and external contact lists via a single interface.

Users can view presence information in real-time for all of their colleagues, partners, customers and prospects from a variety of sources: voice, email, SMS, Outlook calendar, Instant Messaging (IM) and the most popular social media channels Facebook, Skype and Yahoo!, and then make an immediate choice of the most appropriate communication channel to contact them.\

My IC Social Networks reduces missed opportunities by sending alerts when contacts come online, and allows scheduled call-backs when contacts are unavailable.

Katerina Cerny, Product Marketing Manager for SMB, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, said: "Recent research shows that 75% of wasted time can be saved through using more than one medium, proving that users become far more productive when they can choose the best network and service to communicate with their contacts in real-time."

Ovum's research into the $160bn telecom network infrastructure market indicates five key trends to watch in 2014 as communications service providers (CSPs) seek a better balance between cost and revenue.

According to the the think tank the big trends will be in small cell adoption; data and customer experience management; the move to software-centric networks; increased optical network capacity in the metro; and changes in the infrastructure value chain.

Vendors that stay in front of these trends should beat average market growth projections, claims the firm.

Ovum forecasts low single-digit revenue growth for communications service providers through 2018. The growth of over-the-top players, changes in subscriber behaviours, and regulatory policies are all negatively impacting CSPs' service revenues. This will limit CapEx growth and restrain revenue growth for network infrastructure vendors. Investments in higher-growth revenue opportunities, for example Big Data-related infrastructure and services, LTE, 100G, and the like, will allow vendors to outpace the general market.

The big boom in small cells deployments won't happen in 2014, but indications are clear that interest in small cells is growing. For 2014, small cell solutions for indoor spaces will be hot.

Video analytics and optimisation in particular will prove crucial. Improved customer experience and network asset management will increasingly require sophisticated, realtime policy-controlled traffic management and data analytics, especially for mobile networks.

Telcos will gain confidence to expand software-defined networking (SDN), network virtualization, and network functions virtualization (NFV) trials and early deployments. In 2014, new and revised standards and specifications related to software-defined networking (SDN), network virtualization, and network functions virtualization (NFV) will bring the industry closer to consensus.

Lower-cost coherent optical metro solutions will hit the market in 2014. Network value will increasingly be driven by software-tunable capabilities, allowing new possibilities for transport network optimisation and monetisation.

In 2014, the equipment value chain will continue shifting to benefit application software and chips. For NEPs, the response is vertical integration to include more chip design. For merchant chip suppliers and innovative NEPs, over-the-top (OTT) operators tantalize with a shortened technology adoption cycle.

Dana Cooperson, VP Network Infrastructure at Ovum, said: "The tight revenue climate facing most CSPs is not likely to reverse anytime soon. For NEPs following these trends, one of the challenges will be of resource allocation. While new trends in network infrastructure cannot be ignored, there must be a balance between putting corporate resources into staying on top of new trends that may take several years to turn a profit versus putting resources into existing, profitable network solutions that have a limited life expectancy."

Cloud services and data protection solutions provider Redstor has posted record results for 2013, achieving gross profit in excess of £3 million and EBITDA of over £1 million.

Revenues for the financial year ending November 2013 reached £8 million for the first time, showing another year of strong progress for the tech company.

During the past financial year Redstor has welcomed over 900 organisations onto its platform, growing its cloud business by 25%; and achieved 89% recurring revenue in 2013 indicating that Redstor's long standing customer base continues to contribute significantly to organisational growth.

The firm has also expanded its services portfolio by launching a new service, Virtual Disaster Recovery. This service ensures that business' systems will be up and running within minutes following a disaster.

And the company has strengthened its growth strategy by restructuring internally to better service its customers and partners, and hired ten new employees in its sales, marketing and technical departments.

Chris Sigley, General Manager, said: "Due to our strong relationships with existing customers and partners, as well as a number of key new business wins, Redstor has seen its most profitable year yet. We believe that Redstor has a strong team who all help towards our continued growth."

Redstone has secured a new sponsorship deal with reigning IBF middleweight champion Darren Barker.

The sponsorship deal will see Redstone support the former British, Commonwealth and European Champion over three fights, the next of which will see Barker defend his IBF Middleweight belt against three times world champion Felix Sturm in Stuttgart, Germany on 7th December.

Brendan Loughrey, Managing Director of Redstone said: "We are excited to have the opportunity to sponsor and work with Darren Barker as he prepares to defend his middleweight title.

"Just as Redstone has continued to go from strength to strength this year, we recognise that Darren is in similar position and we are keen to help him achieve his goals in his sport. This is an important stage of his career and we are extremely proud to be able to support his success."

Barker said: "Sponsorship is essential to all professional sportsmen and women to enable us to access the best training and facilities to help us reach the top of our games.

"This deal with Redstone will enable me to continue training at the highest level and will help raise my profile in the IT sector among Redstone's partners and its customers."

This sponsorship announcement follows news that Redstone has finalised its sale to Coms. Redstone will continue to operate as part of Coms and the acquisition brings added strength to both companies.

A top sales performance combined with impressive growth and capabilities have ensured that Lily Communications bagged the Best Partner of the Year Award at Ericsson-LG's Global Partner Conference held in Thailand.

The Yorkshire-based reseller has advanced an aggressive and ambitious sales and marketing strategy alongside a significant investment in customer services, explained MD Chris Morrisey.

He said: "Our strategy of aligning traditional sales and marketing practices with new, inventive techniques has seen a dramatic increase in sales.

"We have also invested heavily in improving client services. In January we asked our clients how we could improve our service. Having listened to their feedback we restructured our client services to provide dedicated account management. This has led to improved client relations and increased retention."

Lily Communications has collaborated with distributor Pragma to push new Ericsson-LG telecoms products into the UK marketplace.

Pragma MD Tim Brooksadded: "Lily Communications has taken a professional and hardworking approach to business, helping us to increase our market share. The Best Partner of the Year Award is richly deserved."

Pictured: Company owners Adrian Jackson (left) and Chris Morrisey with the award.

Chess has advanced its growth strategy and gained a firmer foothold in cloud territory following the acquisition of Microsoft Gold Partner The CRM Business. Chess CEO David Pollock sees the latest addition, the company's 12th acquisition this year, as a key strategic move.

"Customer Relationship Management software is at the heart of every business," he stated. "And we were keen to acquire a cloud CRM software business to enhance our customer offering.

"We're excited to have The CRM Business as part of the Chess Group. With our support they're set to capitalise on their position with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and its fast worldwide sales growth.

"Innovative products and services create new and exciting opportunities for our businesses, people, partners and customers."

The CRM Business' team regularly speak at Microsoft events worldwide and will continue to operate from its offices in Sheffield and Manchester, delivering both online and on-premise CRM solutions.

Roger Collins, MD, said: "With the added expertise and telecoms industry knowledge Chess will provide, I am confident that The CRM Business will continue to go from strength to strength and will see a rapid increase in our growth, particularly within the telecoms sector."

A collaboration between Salford Software and Atia Communications has helped Chichester University reduce call costs by 50% in the first three months of unified communications roll out for 10,000 staff and students across two main campuses and six affiliate sites.

The Microsoft Office 365 and Lync on-premise solution was initially rolled out to staff in June 2013 during the summer holidays and then subsequently to students in time for the start of the new 2014 academic year.

James Mason, Head of IT Operations, Chichester University, said: "We've cut our telephony bills by half in the first three months of use and opened up a new world of collaboration. If staff or students are abroad they are able to continue communicating at a fraction of the expense and with ease."

The solution has solved a number of issues including the campus' location in a bad signal area for mobile telephony. "Microsoft Lync will change that," added Mason. "We're also able to keep the university running in the face of inclement weather. Snow brought us to a standstill a couple of years ago but that would no longer be the case with the ability to have net meetings, online conferences and to share documents via Lync.

The university has worked with Salford Software for over 15 years. The IT firm recommended an upgrade from Microsoft Outlook to Office365 while working with Atia Communications for the Lync installation.

"Our student union AGM will be held for the first time across both our campuses via unified communications and iPads to link both meeting rooms together at the same time. The list of possibilities is endless," enthused Mason.

Paul Beaumont, Salford Software's Chief Executive, added: "We've worked in higher education for decades and working together with Atia Communications we're able to help Chichester University get real return on investment for the implementation of Microsoft technologies.

"With our combined knowledge of the marketplace and the technologies, the teams at Salford and Atia have provided Chichester with a cutting edge solution that is already seeing cost savings."

Patrick Copping, General Manager at Atia Communications, added: "Salford Software has been a part of our channel partner scheme for over a year now and in that time we have developed a great relationship.

"Lync integrates perfectly with Office365 and it makes perfect sense for any organisation deploying Office365 to integrate Lync straight into it."

Huawei is to invest £10m to support technology research programmes with key British universities.

The funding, part of Huawei's $2bn investment commitment to the UK, will be implemented by 2017 and strengthens the company's partnership with British higher education.

The £10m investment includes key collaborations with the major British universities, with the research programmes focusing on advanced multimedia, IT and optical technology, green radio, 5G technologies, optical technology, wireless communications and product engineering.

The significant level of funding for these university schemes has been made available through Huawei's Innovation Research Programme, which extends the company's long-term focus on research and development into the academic world by forging partnerships with global educational institutions. Every year Huawei invests over 10% of its revenue into R&D, in 2012 this equaled to US$4.8 billion.

It is expected that the research programmes will help increase Huawei's understanding of these technologies and thereby improve the consumer, network and enterprise services and solutions it offers. Huawei already counts BT and EE among its network customers in the UK and is currently the world's third-largest smartphone vendor.

David Willetts MP, Minister for Universities and Science, following a visit to Huawei's Shanghai R&D centre today, said: "This investment is a vote of confidence in UK universities and their world-leading science and technology skills. We want to encourage greater links between innovative businesses and our research-focused universities. Attracting global companies, like Huawei, shows we are realising these ambitions."

Victor Zhang, Chief Executive of Huawei UK, said: "This collaboration with the UK's universities is an excellent initiative. As the global technology economy continues to grow, new innovation is fundamental, and these research projects will ensure the UK is at the forefront of developments in wireless, multimedia and advanced communications.

"As a global leader in the technology industry, we believe we have a responsibility to nurture the next generation of talent. The research partnerships we're announcing today with British universities are a sign of that commitment, and we passionately believe that greater collaboration across cultures fosters a unique learning environment and a truly global workforce that benefits everyone."

Riverbed has named Keith Hoskison as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Channels and Strategic Account Programs.

He has worked at BMC Software, Aruba Networks and Cisco Systems, and has specialised in building and executing strategic relationship management programs targeting global accounts, channel partners, and strategic alliances.

David Peranich, President of Worldwide Field Operations at Riverbed, said: "Keith will be responsible for driving new channel initiatives and programs, and expanding our relationships with service providers, system integrators and VARs as they embrace and extend our platform."