Comms Dealer

A call recording service that meets UK FSA regulations and the upcoming Dodd Frank legislation in the USA has been introduced by Voxsmart.

The mobile call recording firm says VSmart works across all communications on any smartphone and any network regardless of location.

VSmart enables regulated organisations to record and store a trader's mobile voice calls (including calls made over Wi-Fi using VoIP services) along with text and IM traffic.
This happens with no delay to call set-up time and no need to change SIM card or network.

Voxsmart Executive Chairman Graham Rivers commented: "VSmart not only captures all smartphone communications it also offers a range of new and improved storage, retrieval and data analysis features."

The VSmart service will be rolled out this year and during the early part of 2014 across Blackberry, Android, iPhone and Windows handsets.

"Because the service is both handset and cloud-based there are immediate possibilities for telecoms resellers to get involved, especially with SMEs operating in the regulated market," added Rivers.

"We will be introducing a range of services based on the new platform that would help open that market to the reseller community, and potentially have applications beyond the regulated trader market."

Voxsmart is to add more voicemail services and back-end unified communications capabilities to the VSmart service following a link up HulloMail.

Its cloud-based platform has scaled to support more than 35 million users worldwide.
"By working with HulloMail we will be able to introduce a range of new services and added benefits both for our customers and for the traders using VSmart," noted Rivers.

ebillz has formed a strategic billing partnership with NG Bailey's IT Services division.

Yasin Qadir, Head of Sales at ebillz, said: "NG Bailey chose to work with ebillz due to our flexibility and ability to provide a fully managed bureau service."

ebillz have invested over £500,000 on research and development to provide an enhanced platform named called ebillz Enterprise which caters for larger telecom resellers and IT providers. 

HighNet has brought its Ethernet over FTTC (EFTC) product range to full launch following a successful trial period.

Technical Director David Alldritt stated: "The combination of high quality bandwidth, a solid SLA and an attractive price point should make this product the default setting for the UK SME.

"Our message to business is leave your broadband at home. Your business connectivity is too important to rely on DSL, and with EFTC we have the answer."

The company launched its own ISP network in 2012 and has since witnessed significant growth, particularly in Ethernet products.

"This latest addition to the product range will ensure that HighNet's network continues to grow," added Alldritt.

The number of consumer owned mobile devices used at work will exceed one billion by 2018, according to industry watcher Juniper Research, but future BYOD strategies will not be served by single a policy or measure.

In a report just published Juniper states that BYOD has the potential to benefit organisations in terms of enhanced employee satisfaction and productivity, but the threat from unprotected employee mobile devices is of paramount importance.

The research house contends that for businesses adopting BYOD there is a need to consider mobile devices as just another endpoint while devising measures to mitigate the challenges and the risks of managing a multi-platform environment.

Growth in the mobile security market is being driven by the enterprise segment particularly in the areas of BYOD and mobile device management.
?In the consumer segment, Juniper forecasts steady growth in revenue for security software, approaching 40% of the global mobile security sales revenue by the end of 2018.

This will be driven in the main by increased consumer awareness of available security solutions and of the risks posed by fraud and malware to data stored on and accessible via their smartphones and tablets.

According to Juniper's report western Europe represents the largest revenue hub for mobile security vendors; and more than half of all mobile devices in the US will have security apps installed by the end of 2018.

Colt's cloud services for the channel are now available via ArrowSphere, Arrow Electronics' cloud services platform.

Colt and Arrow have worked together to create a complete self-service user experience, enabling VARs to manage their customers' requirements and provision new services instantly.

Arrow's channel community have the option to either create and operate a managed cloud backup service, or to pass self-management rights directly to their customers.

The consumption-based price model means that customers only pay for what they use, optimising their IT spend with no upfront costs.

Eric Taillard, Vice President Cloud Services, Arrow ECS EMEA, commented: "We worked closely with Colt in defining a true channel solution that answers to the needs of the market and puts our channel community in the position to deliver value add by offering assistance in migration, configuration and management of on-premise as well as cloud solutions."

Gary Moore, Distribution Director, Colt, added: "The launch of these new services represents a further move into the fast-growing cloud infrastructure market for Colt."

Channel Telecom is setting a new trend having fulfilled channel partner MPLS and line contracts for five household name fashion labels. The biggest order for an international cosmetics and fashion brand has a total contract value of over £100,000.

Channel Telecom is more than doubling turnover every year since establishment in 2008 and this year revenues are predicted to exceed £6 million. The company recently won the Federation of Communication Services 2013 Award for the Wholesale Provider of the Year.

Vanessa Lee (pictured), Marketing Manager for Channel Telecom, said: "It's a coincidence that five famous fashion labels should sign with us in such a short period. Maybe it has something to do with London Fashion Week staged in September, or maybe it's because Channel Telecom is the ultra-cool fashion leader in the comms wholesale market!"

With a growth rate of 1,250% Virtual1 has again been recognised in the top five for the telecommunications sector in Deloitte's UK Fast 50 (which acknowledges the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in the UK based on revenue growth over the last five years).

Tom O'Hagan, Virtual1's MD, said: "What a great year we are having. It's so satisfying when the management teams plans come to fruition. This recognition is testament to the hard work of my team and we could not achieve this without our amazing customers. The current plan is for more success and progress in 2014 and beyond."

A10 Networks has signed a distribution deal with value-added distie Espion. Under the terms of this deal, Espion will act as A10 Networks' distributor of its application delivery controllers in Irish and Scottish markets.

Espion has been selected due to its knowledge of new markets and strong-track with emerging vendors, A10 says. The company will also provide commercial and technical support to the A10's product portfolio. Espion will offer A10 Thunder next-generation application delivery controllers.

In addition, A10 will help expand Espion's portfolio in the area of security, storage, virtualization, wireless and networking technology solutions, the company says.

"In choosing Espion, we recognise their strong pedigree in best in class security technologies combined with a heavyweight sales engineering team and exceptional technical expertise to deploy our solutions to the Irish and Scottish markets," says Andre Stewart, VP EMEA, A10 Networks.

Europe is lagging the US in software R&D, but there may be some rising stars among small EU companies. The European Commission's 2013 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard showed that overall, EU-based firms (527 companies) stepped up R&D investment by 6.3%, just above the average of the 2000 firms in the Scoreboard (+6.2%). However, like last year they lagged behind their US counterparts (+8.2%).

EU companies also showed a mixed performance depending on the sector, with strong R&D growth in some but stagnation or decline elsewhere. EU Scoreboard companies surveyed expect to increase their R&D investments by 2.6 % on average per year for the period 2013-2015, a fall in expectations over the previous year.

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science said: "The EU still lags behind its main competitors in business investment in R&D, and there are some worrying signs in these latest reports. Despite the positive results of top EU companies in important industrial sectors such as automobiles, we are still too weak in high tech sectors such as biotechnology and software."

The 6.2% increase on average in R&D growth of the Scoreboard companies came despite a slowdown of net sales growth (+4.2% vs +9.9% in 2011) and a 10.1% decline in operating profits in 2012. The EU's overall positive results were largely driven by the R&D growth rates of German companies, particularly in the automobile sector.

Results of EU companies in the ICT sector were mixed, with Software and Computer Services performing well (+14.2%) but showing a decline in IT Hardware (-2.3%). In contrast, US-based companies performed well across both sectors (+12.6% and +14.8% respectively).

An analysis of trends over the last 10 years shows that the US continue to increase its specialisation in R&D intensive sectors such as ICT and health (70% share of the total R&D investments made by US Scoreboard companies in 2012 vs 64 % in 2004).

Despite the strong US lead in these highly R&D intensive sectors, a closer look at the lower ranks of the EU companies shows a significant number of good performers in sectors such as Software and Biotech, companies which might become leaders in the future.

G3 Comms Group Sales and Marketing Director Niall Anderson has taken on two non-executive positions having completed his assignment for the business.

Anderson joined G3 at the start of 2012 tasked with identifying opportunities for growth, capitalising on new technologies and exploiting changing market conditions.

During his tenure he managed the integration of G3 Telecommunications and sister company G3 Network Services, directing the transition to G3 Comms and putting the business on a path to profitable growth.

Central to this achievement was the recruitment of a new sales force and creation of partnerships with some of the world's most progressive technology providers.

"The potential for G3 was clear from the start and I was able to focus on driving change throughout the business to give it a new focus and new direction," commented Anderson. By fully integrating the business, developing its technology partner relationships and embracing next generation connectivity, I am confident that G3 Comms is now better placed and better equipped to fully capitalise on its potential."

As well as Anderson's achievements with G3, it is his work on the international stage with the Aura Alliance, the largest global alliance of Avaya partners that has given rise to his next challenges.

After helping to grow the multinational reach of the Alliance, he has been instrumental in building the sales and traction that have helped the business transition to the next stage in its evolution.

He now takes on a non-executive directorship at the forefront of the Aura Alliance and a similar position at the head of the MCD Alliance - the global alliance of Mitel partners.

"I'm looking forward to continuing my work with the Aura Alliance and taking on new responsibilities with the MCD Alliance," said Anderson. "As business goes global in search of growth, this is an exciting time to be focussed on international comms opportunities."

Anderson will also be continuing his work with business change management consultants, Positive Momentum, where he remains a partner.

At G3 Comms, Anderson's former responsibilities will be fulfilled by Jonathan Harris, former Pre-Sales Manager who will move to Head of Sales, and Tony Parish who will drive marketing within his current role as Managing Director.

Parish commented: "Niall has done an outstanding job at G3 Comms and I have no doubt that the two global alliances will benefit similarly from his unique approach to building growth. His move is part of our planned progression towards building G3 into a more streamlined operation offering integrated solutions drawn from cloud-based services and applications.