Comms Dealer

Manchester-based hosting and colocation firm UKFast has become an approved NICEIC electrical contractor.

Employing fully qualified, in-house design and engineering staff, the accreditation enables the cloud and colocation firm to undertake electrical installation and maintenance within its data centres and property portfolio, delivering critical services to thousands of servers without the need for third party contractors.

UKFast CEO Lawrence Jones said: "This is another step toward our goal of owning every aspect of our supply chain ensuring that we are in total control of the service we offer our clients. Having this accreditation further cements our commitment to quality and speed as now we can be certain of the response times and quality of the work our electricians carry out."

The hosting and colocation firm recently made its first acquisition, completing a deal for UK arm of American firm BurstNet, adding 25% to its client base and continuing the firm's growth in new areas.

Exeter-based Eclipse Internet has announced plans to double the size of its communications business following a multi-million pound investment that will see the firm, which is part of the FTSE 250 KCOM Group, focus on further developing its existing connectivity, communications and cloud services portfolios used by over 20,000 businesses nationally.

The investment will also create dozens of skilled jobs in Exeter over the next 12 months.

Clodagh Murphy, Managing Director at Eclipse, said: "It's an exciting time at Eclipse and with our ambitions for growth this investment really demonstrates the confidence and focus of the Eclipse team.

"Our business customers are more reliant than ever on high quality communications and the new breed of cloud based IT solutions we're launching will make it possible for us to help them grow in so many different ways."

Spectra Logic has released details of a survey by Vanson Bourne revealing that the majority of IT decision makers at large organisations use manual processes to analyse and migrate stored data, rarely delete data, and add more storage when necessary.

Organisations across a number of sectors including media and entertainment, life sciences, medical imaging, oil and gas, government, and video surveillance, are choosing to retain much of their data for extended periods, found the study.

A number of factors influence the trend toward extended data retention, including regulatory, compliance or governance requirements, as well as the opportunity to repurpose and monetise information in the future.

"The survey findings illustrate the need for new storage options that allow organisations to reduce the time spent manually managing long-term storage and easily interface with low cost storage tiers," said Molly Rector, executive vice president of product management and worldwide marketing, Spectra Logic.

"The low-cost nature of tape, combined with its scalability and durability, ensures it will continue to play an important role in modern and evolving IT environments."

Avnet Technology Solutions has launched an End User Computing (EUC) Practice in the UK designed to help the channel generate new business in the growing desktop transformation market.

Open to new and existing Avnet business partners, the practice combines VMware Horizon Suite with Avnet's SolutionsPath methodology and marks the first major collaboration between the two companies in the UK since Avnet added VMware to its UK supplier portfolio in October 2012.

The shift toward desktop virtualisation and trends such as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) have created a new set of challenges for IT departments as they struggle to manage a plethora of devices securely and cost-effectively, noted Avnet, which has recognised the importance of creating a framework for business partners that helps their customers create a successful, secure and productive workspace environment, says the firm.

Tom Ellis, VMware EUC partner development manager, Avnet Technology Solutions UK, said: "The practice enables business partners to sell VMware Horizon Suite and the additional hardware, software and services which complement VMware EUC solutions."

According to Ed Dolman, Head of Channel, UK and Ireland at VMware: "We consider this initiative to be a powerful value proposition as we seek to attract new partners who want to enter the desktop transformation market but currently lack the relevant skills.

Mobility management solutions and telecom software specialist Globo has announced positive unaudited interim results for H1 2013 driven by positive market trends, particularly in the field of 'bring your own device' (BYOD) tendency, it says.

Both Globo's market sectors, consumer and enterprise, were doing well posting a revenue increase by 22% y/y (to €17.9m) and by 132% y/y (to €10.2m), respectively. The enterprise segment with its leading GO!Enterprise was strengthen by a disti agreement signed with Ingram Micro in North America in H1 and, in particular, the prospective contribution from its 'Enterprise Mobility in a Box' distributed now through the US and Canada. The growth in the enterprise segment was also supported by a growing demand for BYOD trend.

BYOD trend in mobile technology also contributed to Globo's performance, especially given that Globo's Go!Enterprise solution delivers a platform that aims to provide the employees secure access to corporate date, it says.

On the other hand, the consumer segment (CitronGO! And Go!Social), which accounted for 56% of total revenues for the period, saw a growth in the emerging markets due to a growing demand for internet and social media through feature phones.

As far as the telecom segment is concerned, SaaS solutions increased by 81% y/y to €3.64m, thanks to continued expansion of the company's WIPLUS WiFi service that includes the managed services provided to hotels, airports, marinas and other locations.

In total revenue increased by 52% year-on-year to €32.03m reflecting the overall growth in the mobile sector. Gross profit went up by 40% to €17.05m with gross margin of 53% (against 57% at the same time a year before). EBITDA increased 44% y/y to €18.64m, with operating margin going up to 45% while profit before tax stood at €14.47m which translated into a 74%-growth year-on-year.

During the first six month of the year Globo also managed to secure a €20m three-year revolving credit line with Barclays Bank for future investments and acquisitions, it says. The company entered into new partnerships and alliances with technology companies, including IBM and Fujitsu, and signed new reseller agreements.

In the coming months Globo plans to leverage its entries into key markets with a strong focus on enterprise mobility and BYOD trends in Western Europe and the US. Additionally, it expects that its consumer-dedicated solutions will continue to grow, mostly in the emerging markets, where the smartphone saturation is still relatively lower. The markets with strong demand for internet access and with limited bandwidth capacity will be targeted by Globo's CitronGO! And Go!Social - where the revenues will be generated from services provided to end users via Value Added Service providers and Mobile Network Operators.

"Globo's growing reputation in consumer and enterprise mobile markets around the world is being translated into a strong, profitable trading performance. Demand for our market-leading products and services are being supported by positive market trends, particularly BYOD, and we are continuing to invest in R&D to strengthen our competitive edge. The potentially substantial contribution from Enterprise Mobility in a Box and Go!Enterprise 247 cloud offering and the positive trading so far in the normally strong second half, have increased our confidence in achieving market forecasts for the full year," says non-executive Chairman, Barry Ariko.

The company has also reiterated its market forecast for the full year .

Full-service business support systems provider Cerillion has launched a new partner programme for its cloud-billing solutions, called Cerillion Skyline, dedicated to cloud infrastructure and solutions provider from across the verticals.

New partners will be certified by Cerillion to implement consultancy services and encouraged to build joint solutions as well as to offer their own billing service on a white-label basis.

Cerillion's cloud-based solution combines its billing and charging engines with customer, payment and collections management and product catalogue and offers a mix of recurring fees and usage-based pricing, it says.

http://www.cerillion.com

Symantec has named Mark Nutt as vice president, EMEA Partner Management, to be in charge of the development and execution of Symantec's channel strategy across the EMEA region.

"Symantec is more committed to partners and distributors than ever before," said Nutt. "It is vital that we enable partners to deliver superior value to customers and that, in turn, we demonstrate our commitment to directly supporting our channel partners' business growth. I am delighted to be playing a role in defining and implementing our new channel strategy."

Nutt joined Symantec in 2011 to run EMEA's Strategy and Sales Operations organisation, responsible for driving sales performance and operational excellence across the business.

Prior to joining Symantec, he was general manager at Morse, where he was responsible for all aspects of business unit strategy, structure, reporting and planning.

Nutt started his career in 1987 at HP where he held various sales positions.

Eighty channel petrol heads have safely returned home after 'racing' a cavalcade of old bangers over 1000 miles from England to Hungary in the second Gamma Ball Rally, bringing home an amazing £50,000 for charity.

The rally, sponsored by Cisco, saw 22 cars - all bought for a maximum of £500 - set off from Gamma's headquarters in Newbury to undertake a series of mad challenges en route through France, Belgium, and Germany.

The route also took in a harrowing spin around the infamous Nurburgring - which resulted in a few bumper benders but no major casualties - before a last leg dash to the finish line in Budapest. All but two cars made it to the finish including Comms Dealer's paint daubed Comms Wheeler vehicle with race organiser John Haw of Gamma on board.

Inevitably there were madcap stories involving dodgy diversions and unplanned pit stops, but Haw was pleased to comment: "Thankfully no one got on the wrong side of the law and although there were some shaky legs after some prangs on the Nurburgring, everyone arrived in Hungary unscathed. It was an amazing effort and the amount raised by the cars and in the 'Money Can't Buy' gift auction during the race night gala evening was truly awesome. We netted £50,000 in total which is amazing!

"There were almost too many incidents and hilarious moments to recall as everyone entered into the spirit of the rally and had a great time. I would like to thank everyone who took part especially our amazing Gamma support team that probably drove twice as many miles as anyone else helping cars in trouble, and of course our generous main sponsor Cisco."

The £50,000 raised will go to two deserving charities, The East Cheshire Hospice who cared for Julie Wright, Operations director at Chess Telecom who lost her battle with cancer earlier this year and Action Through Enterprise which helps disadvantaged people in Ghana.

The final results of the Gamma Ball Rally were as follows:
Roll of Honour
First Place - Team Spirit Cannonball 
Second Place - STL        
Third Place - DOMinate          
Spirit of the Rally - Smokey and Abandon it               
Booby prize - Olive Hoons (for flying from Frankfurt to Budapest due to car sickness!)

To see more pictures and the mad cap rally highlights see the October issue of Comms Dealer.

BlackBerry has signalled its intent to be acquired by a consortium led by Fairfax Financial Holdings for $4.7bn. The news follows Blackberry's recent announcement about plans to cut 4,500 jobs, tantamount to 40% of its worldwide workforce, in an effort to stem losses.

A letter of intent contemplates a transaction in which BlackBerry shareholders would receive $9 in cash for each share of BlackBerry share they hold. The consortium would acquire for cash all of the outstanding shares of BlackBerry not held by Fairfax.

Fairfax, which owns approximately 10 per cent of BlackBerry's common shares, intends to contribute the shares of BlackBerry it currently holds into the transaction.

The BlackBerry Board of Directors, acting on the recommendation of a special committee of the board of directors, approved the terms of the letter of intent under which the consortium, which is seeking financing from BofA Merrill Lynch and BMO Capital Markets, would acquire BlackBerry and take the company private subject to a number of conditions, including due diligence, negotiation and execution of a definitive agreement and customary regulatory approvals.

Barbara Stymiest, Chair of BlackBerry's Board of Directors, said: "The Special Committee is seeking the best available outcome for the Company's constituents, including for shareholders. Importantly, the go-shop process provides an opportunity to determine if there are alternatives superior to the present proposal from the Fairfax consortium."

Prem Watsa, Chairman and CEO of Fairfax, said: "We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees. We can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world."

Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at Ovum, commented: "Taking BlackBerry private doesn't solve the fundamental problems at the company. First, the company's device sales are cratering, and its announcement last week that it no longer intends to pursue the consumer market is essentially the death knell for this business.

"Normally, companies are taken private in order to give a long-term strategy time to payoff without the hassles of short-term investor scrutiny. But BlackBerry's key problem for the last couple of years has been the lack of such a long-term strategy. It simply hasn't articulated a way to rebuild its business as its device sales drop precipitously.

"Unless Fairfax plans to radically change or accelerate BlackBerry's strategy, it's unlikely to be able to turn the company around. And that means we're likely seeing the beginning of the end for one of the most iconic brands in mobile technology."

Azzurri has implemented a new cloud-based contact centre architecture for decade-long customer Vanquis Bank based on the Avaya platform and the Callmedia 5.0 contact centre management application.
 
To cope with the growth of Vanquis Bank, which has seen its number of agents increase from 25 to 550+ agents since it was founded in 2002, the company needed to switch from its existing system which was at near full capacity.

They needed a highly resilient high-capacity, multi-site contact centre infrastructure that was scalable and worked across multiple locations thus seeing the company throughout its future growth and international expansion.
 
The new cloud-based contact centre Azzurri has deployed will meet Vanquis Bank's most ambitious growth goals for at least the next five years, with support for upwards of 1,000 extensions and 1,000 telephone lines.

The project began by migrating the company's core contact centre operations to a centralised data centre in Corsham, from which calls are routed to the company's four contact centres in various locations across the UK and South Africa.
  
Vanquis Bank is part of the Provident Financial Group and has over 1.0 million UK customers.