Comms Dealer

Red Box Recorders has expanded its business development and technical support team in North America in response to increased demand for voice and data recording solutions in the region.

John Pace and Francis Etchie have been appointed as Regional Sales Manager and Senior Sales Engineer respectively to target sales opportunities within the emergency services, call centre and financial services sectors.

In his new role, John Pace will utilise more than 15 years of experience within the recording marketplace to drive sales growth having held a number of roles for Cybertech and Dictaphone. Most recently he spent almost five years as Regional Sales Executive for Cybertech responsible for the direct and reseller channels in the Northeast and across Canada.

Prior to this he worked for over 10 years at Dictaphone selling technology solutions to call centres, public safety dispatch centres, financial trading floors and healthcare organisations.

Meanwhile, Francis Etchie will be tasked with supporting business development within the financial markets. This will include managing and developing pre-sales proposals, demonstrations and presentations, as well handling integration with various trading turrets and PBX systems including IPC, BT Netrix, Speakerbus IP Trade, Cisco and Avaya.

He possesses 14 years experience working for financial services organisations as Telecom Manager for Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment bank and before this IT Manager for BNP Paribas Asset Management.

Lee Jones, CEO of Red Box Recorders commented: "North America is a key growth region for the business, so we are investing in our resources to ensure we are best placed to provide recording solutions that help overcome the precise challenges of our customers."

Japan-based NTT Corporation has announced that Gyron Internet, an NTT Com group firm and the UK's data centre service provider, plans to double UK server room area with a construction of a new data centre in UK Hemel Hempstead to meet a growing demand, it says.

The data centre market in the UK increased by 20% y/y in 2012 due to a strong demand from media and telecom industries, according to the company. Therefore it expects the demand for hybrid cloud services will be further growing and will attract more service providers to the UK's data centres.

The new facility will be located at a 38,500 square-metre site near the two other data centres that also belong to Gyron. It will provide around 10,000 square metres of server room by spring 2015, more than doubling the total server room area in the UK, NTT says.

The new centre will be equipped in chillerless cooling systems and is expected to reduce NTT Com's environmental load. Additionally, it will provide a hybrid cloud environment that combines on-premise systems, colocation and NTT Com's Enterprise Cloud to better meet customer demand and optimise ICT systems.

What is more, the connections between Gyron's three Hemel Hempstead data centres will allow them to operate essentially as one data centre.

Blackberry lost nearly $1 billion last quarter and taking the company private was the only option left for the company, according to Frost & Sullivan's Lawrence Lundy.

"Going private will give the company room to reorganise away from the glare of the markets. In order to survive Blackberry will need to pull out of the handset and mobile OS markets. Blackberry will no longer be a consumer company, it will be an enterprise security company," he said.

"Before it overreached and attempted to compete in the consumer market, Blackberry was the first choice for corporate IT departments. Apple and Android manufacturers, namely Samsung, have been improving their enterprise offerings of late, meaning that Blackberry is no longer the default option for enterprise. If Blackberry is to survive it will need to go back to its roots, and hope that it is not too late.

"Blackberry still has a strong brand around the world, an industry leading security system and relationships with many of the world's largest companies. By focusing on Blackberry Enterprise Services and extending Blackberry Messenger (BBM), and making these services available across all platforms and devices, the company can continue to exist albeit in a much smaller form. This will enable customers to meet the needs of their employees with devices they want, with the security and control required by IT.

"With Nokia retreating into network communications equipment, and Blackberry to move into enterprise security services, the two biggest names in consumer mobile phones just five years ago are no longer. The technology industry has always moved fast, but the speed at which companies can rise and fall has become dizzying."

Lancope has appointed Tim (TK) Keanini as its new chief technology officer (CTO). He will lead the company's technology architecture toward software-defined networking (SDN) and will be responsible for product roadmaps, it says.

He has over 25 years of network and security experience at the companies such as Cisco and nCircle. He joins Lancope from nCircle where he served as CTO of Network Security. Prior to that, he worked at Morgan Stanley and at Cisco as systems engineer as well as he advised on the design and architecture of their data networking infrastructure.

"TK possesses an incredible amount of industry expertise and has a burning passion to help us further define the evolving market requirements to keep our products and services state of the art. Between his time spent with Cisco, his impactful tenure as CTO of nCircle, and significant contributions to various security standards and patents, TK has always stayed on the cutting edge of security. We are honoured to have him on board as we continue to improve today's position of cyber security one customer at a time," says Mike Potts, president and CEO of Lancope.

Lancope is a specialist in network visibility and security intelligence solutions.

Yorks-based cloud services provider Vapour Media has signed an exclusive long term agreement with TalkTalk for fibre and EFM connectivity.

Tim Mercer, Director of Vapour said: "To deliver Vapour's NxG voice platform and SaaS propositions to our resellers we realised the requirement of our own network infrastructure, owning our own network is essential and has enabled us to control and manage the quality of service and cost required for resellers to win business."

Vapour has built its own fully managed MPLS network with interconnects into each of the four tier 1 carriers. "SMEs are disappointed with slow broadband connectivity not living up to the promises given, with Vapour's lower price entry, SMEs are now opting for our fibre or EFM, through our resellers," said Mercer.

Vapour is backed by significant VC funding and is looking to grow rapidly and is going to add another 100 partners in the next 12 months. It aims to do this via significant investment into a partner incentive scheme, through training, marketing and support to win business with resellers.

Mercer added: "Traditional voice, PBX or mobile resellers realise that change to cloud services is finally happening and that to run this next generation technology SMEs will need faster more reliable connectivity.

"Presently a large proportion of SMEs run all their business activity on a standard broadband connection, this will change over the next few years and SMEs will require more reliable connectivity, with a better class of service, improved SLAs, with the ability to deliver voice, data, and Internet across one dedicated always on connection."

Charles Bligh, MD, TalkTalk Business, added: "Vapour brings a new and exciting opportunity for TalkTalk Business, and by offering its own cloud voice platform we believe the partnership will enhance both of our network footprints across the UK.

"Fibre and EFM connectivity is a compelling proposition for customers who require higher capacity and resilience and will create significant opportunities for revenue generation and business growth. We look forward to watching Vapour become a significant network access provider within the next 12 months."

A north west telecoms chief has headed a delegation of small business leaders on a visit to the European Parliament in Brussels.

At the invitation of North West MEP Sajjad Karim, Abbey Telecom's Tony Raynor led 26 members from the Lancashire and Cumbria Federation of Small Businesses and Lancashire Chambers of Commerce to the heart of the EU.

The group was given the opportunity to find out more about the EU's parliamentary process, its working practices and the work of MEPs.

As part of the visit, they spent a day in the European Parliament and were able to discuss with Sajjad some of the issues faced by the business community and the amount of red tape which they say often hinders the ability of small business.

"This was a hugely beneficial and enlightening delegation and we're really grateful to Sajjad for setting it up," said the Abbey Telecom managing director.  "It gave the group a much stronger idea of the benefits of EU membership in relation to UK trade and industry and as a platform from which to compete in international markets.

"It also gave us the chance to speak to policy makers about improving the law-making process across the EU and reducing red tape and legislative barriers which affect SMEs here. The UK can influence change best if we are cohesive in our dealings with fellow European members."

Sajjad Karim MEP added: "Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and are the agents for economic growth. Collectively they are major employers who are affected on a day to day basis by EU legislation.

"My work as Legal Affairs spokesperson is centred on cutting red tape to reduce the legislative burden for SMEs.  I wanted to foster a better understanding of our relationship with Europe and for people to experience first-hand some of the mechanics of the EU and see for themselves the work I undertake representing the North West in the European Parliament.

"A key example is that the Smart Regs I authored and that were passed by the Parliament last September mean that now all micro enterprises are excluded from future EU legislation unless it can be proven there is a definitive benefit."

The group also had briefings from the FSB's Policy Advisor on EU and International Affairs, a representative from the Belgian Embassy and UKDTI, arranged by the North and West Lancashire Chamber.

It is currently time consuming for smaller businesses to ensure they meet the requirements of all of the legislation coming out of Brussels affecting health and safety, employment or operational issues.

Sajjad Karim continues to spend a considerable amount of his time working towards a reduction in EU regulations and red tape on businesses, particularly SMEs. His report on Better Legislation and Smart Regulation received wide acclaim for reducing unnecessary and unwieldy EU regulation for UK businesses.

Sajjad is now going one step further with his appointment as rapporteur in the Legal Affairs committee for a new dossier which demands to keep EU regulation competitive and flexible.

Node4 has boosted its cloud service infrastructure by rolling out EMC Corporation's Atmos cloud storage platform.

The roll out represents an important strategic investment, significantly expanding Node4's n4Cloud platform and enabling it to enhance its service offering to support growing customer demand for customised cloud services.

Having integrated the new Atmos infrastructure at its Northampton and Wakefield Data Centres, Node4 will be launching a package of new cloud services over the next 12 months.

The new services based on the Node4 Cloud powered by the Atmos platform will include new back up, sharing, collaboration and archiving tools. The new services will be designed to help relieve the IT burden faced by businesses up and down the country, freeing them to invest more time and energy into the development of their core business. The first of these new services will be launched in October 2013.

Node4 will make all of these services available on a simple pay as you go, per gigabyte, per month basis.

Natalie Stewart, Product Manager, Node4 said: "The roll out of EMC's Atmos platform demonstrates our continuing commitment to investing in our own infrastructure and forms a key part of Node4's ambitious growth plans.

"Our long-standing policy to build and own our infrastructure means we maintain complete control over our solutions. Coupled with our highly skilled technical specialists, this control gives us the ultimate flexibility so that we are able to give our customers what they need."

TalkTalk Business has implemented The Kenton Group's next generation fulfilment service to automate SBC delivery, underpinned by ITIL-based configuration management.

TalkTalk Business is using Kenton's Provisioning Portal to deliver pre-configured SBCs for its new IP-ISDN30 service.

"Making SIP delivery simple is a USP for IP-ISDN30," said Jon Nowell, Head of Communications Services at TalkTalk Business. "The Kenton Provisioning Portal provides a seamless interface between TTB and Kenton's systems. The customer benefit is that SBC installation is fast, efficient and works first time."

Kenton's Provisioning Portal simplifies product configuration and delivery management for CPE on behalf of operators and ISPs across the UK and Europe. The portal streamlines the supply chain to the customer, is cost-effective for configuring routers and layer 2 CPE, simplifies and centralises the order processes and offers effective inventory management.

John Larkin, Managing Director of The Kenton Group, added: "Providing a bespoke service for our customers is key in order to deliver against their exacting requirements. Kenton's fulfilment service allows us to add value to our service offerings. Today's challenges have allowed Kenton to continually develop the service range offered to our customer base."

Outsourcery is taking part in Microsoft's initiative to accelerate the offering of IL3 compliant cloud services through its cloud operating systems network.

Outsourcery will deploy and manage a new platform to provide secure cloud-based services to UK government and commercial sector organisations with similar security requirements.

Microsoft will offer direct technology design and implementation support to this new state of the art platform. This is the first initiative of its kind in the UK market.

The public sector opportunity for Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), such as Outsourcery, is significant as the government transitions to cloud-based services.

Outsourcery is already a recognised supplier to the Government Procurement Service, an executive agency of the Cabinet Office, through the G-Cloud Framework, alongside a number of its reseller partners, which provides access to 30,000 public sector organisations.

Outsourcery is already ISO 27001 (Information Security) accredited and is capable of deploying 'IL2' accredited solutions, which are typically suitable for local government.

However, UK central government departments can require solutions that are accredited to the more stringent IL3 security level, which requires additional security and it to be hosted within UK borders. \

The UK government has introduced a Public Cloud First Policy mandate, which means that departments are now mandated to consider public cloud first in any IT procurement. It also wishes to see more flexible contracts and the involvement of UK SMEs in the delivery of services.

The government's annual hosting cost is estimated to be worth £2bn and the opportunity for new IL3 based services to address that market and deliver savings is substantial. In order to complement its Public Cloud services Microsoft is working with Outsourcery to support the introduction of an IL3 accredited platform based on next generation technology and hosted in the UK. This will be wholly-owned and managed by Outsourcery.

The platform is due to be launched in 2014 and Outsourcery will be working closely with its existing and new reseller partners, many of which are well-established suppliers to the UK government, on its go to market strategy. Outsourcery is already working on responses to central government tenders with its larger partners that will require IL3 compliance.

Piers Linney, Outsourcery's Co-CEO, said: "The deployment of an IL3 compliant version of our O-Cloud platform, powered by Microsoft, is a significant development for Outsourcery and we expect it to represent a material revenue stream by the end of 2015, in addition to our existing commercial sector business.

"We will provide the UK government (as well as security sensitive commercial sector organisations) the broadest offering of IL3 compliant and fully integrated cloud-based services available in the UK that will span platform, applications, unified communications and Big Data storage and analytics. "

"As well as the involvement of Microsoft, our large partners have been asking for such a capability as the government increasingly embraces cloud-based solutions for its ICT requirements."

Sennheiser's recently launched Century headset scooped a Red Dot design award having impressed the jury of experts with its attractive, comfortable design and productivity enhancing features, said the firm.

The jury commented, 'The simple and elegant design of this headset is well-conceived and from every viewpoint is oriented towards comfortable, professional applications'.

Jane Craven, Director of Sales for Sennheiser UK Telecoms, stated: "The Century series combines sound quality, wearing comfort and durability in a sleek and iconic design."