Comms Dealer

As the first wholesale distribution partner in the EU for Avaya's cloud solutions distributor ScanSource linked up with the vendor to stage two 'scanSource VaaS-t Powered by Avaya IP Office' workshops in Guildford and Bury.

UK MD for Avaya Ioan MacRae and Paul Emery, VP of ScanSource Communications UK, addressed reseller partners to demystify the cloud and outline the business growth opportunities it represents.

Roadshow delegate Mark Stephens, Head of Group Services at Charterhouse Voice and Data, said: "Having attended ScanSource's workshop Charterhouse Voice and Data is now ready to go to market with this cloud solution.

"We can utilise our existing IP Office skillset while taking advantage of all the benefits that cloud can bring, to provide our customers with an on-premise, hybrid, or entirely cloud-based Avaya offering."

VoIP Distributor ProVu and Cisco are to stage two reseller launch events in Birmingham and Glasgow next month.

These events follow the Manchester and London launches where resellers got to grips with Cisco's latest multi-platform SIP phone range, the 7800 and 8800 series.

The ProVu and Cisco teams will be heading to The IET, Glasgow on 4th April and The IET, Birmingham on 6th April 2017.

ProVu's Sales Director Ian Godfrey commented: "Orders for the new 7800 and 8800 series are already gaining momentum but we know there's still a number of resellers who are yet to discover the capabilities of this new range of multi-platform phones.

"Our previous events proved to be a great success, we look forward to heading out on the road and welcoming resellers in Glasgow and Birmingham next month."

Following Direct Response's acquisitions of CallScripter, Ansaback and GoResponse the company has rebranded as The Yonder Digital Group.

Chris Robinson, Yonder Digital Group, said: "With this rebrand we confirm our commitment to provide client solutions powered by an omni-channel single view of the customer, allowing clients to fully understand the customer journey across channels that leads to real business results.

"We are able to provide the right intelligence for clients to balance risk and experience leveraging cross-selling and up-selling opportunities and delivering rapid problem resolution. This also allows us to measure and analyse performance and quality data across multiple touch points and maximise ROI on customer engagement for our customers."

Hosted UC provider thevoicefactory (tvf) has opened a data centre in Sacramento, California, to meet the needs of its growing customer base in the Americas.

This is tvf's second data centre in the USA after opening one in Washington DC at the end of 2016.

The two US data centres have been built using the N+1 approach to support geographic redundancy, which provides resiliency to component failure or complete data centre outage.

The US data centres will start by serving the hospitality industry, covering the US, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and South America as reach points of tvf's solution with local regulatory compliant PSTN breakout.

Over time tvf will expand the solution to reach other verticals.

tvf MD Paul Harrison said: "The new data centre is part of our expansion to serve business we have already secured and build for what we will gain in the near future, based on our reputation in the UK and Europe."

Wireless ISP Luminet has enlisted channel builder Richard Jones (pictured) to drive the rollout of its new partner programme launched last year.

He joins the company as Channel Development Manager and brings 16 years connectivity experience including notable stints at Uniworld, Abzorb and Genius Networks where he led partner engagement programmes that more than trebled reseller numbers.

This appointment reflects Luminet's sharpened focus on the channel and its intent to add substantial numbers to its existing 50-plus active partner base which ranges from multi-national distributors to bespoke London-based IT companies.

Jones's primary task is to bed in the processes for Luminet's new automated portal for wholesale and resellers and engage with new vertical service provider partners.

He will also strengthen the channel team to address the 350-plus potential partners who have recently engaged with Luminet, representing a potential doubling of ARR.

"Having worked in the channel for over a decade I am well versed in the issues faced by VARs today," he stated.

"As connectivity becomes increasingly commoditised they want and need vendors that enable them to differentiate, scale revenues and increase margins.

"We have connectivity and multi-cloud computing propositions tailored for the London market which represents half of the UK's telecoms revenue."

Luminet's new channel programme includes Fibre Air, also launched last year, which is a wireless business Internet service that can be installed in 10 working days and provides customers with up to 1gb symmetrical broadband Internet connectivity.

Luminet CEO Sasha Williamson added: "For the last few years the business priority has been product development and investment into our expanded network and compute asset base.

"Our focus is now firmly on market execution, the channel is our best route and Richard has hit the ground running."

Interoute has integrated its managed global cloud infrastructure with the Rancher management platform in a bid to accelerate enterprise digital transformation.
 
Interoute announced the news at Cloud Expo 2017 today.

The advent of containers has revolutionised the way enterprises can build, and deploy software applications, bringing greater agility, quicker deployment times and lower operational costs.

In the past, Enterprise Operations and Infrastructure teams building new applications and software services had to manage all cloud infrastructure building blocks (the virtual server, OS, and application libraries) necessary to create their application development environment.

Using a container based approach enterprise developers can now focus on writing applications and deploying the code straight into a container.

The container is then deployed across the underling Interoute cloud infrastructure dramatically improving the time to develop and launch new applications and software.
 
The Interoute Container platform is part of the Interoute Enterprise Digital Platform, a secure global Infrastructure that combines a Software Defined Core Network integrated into a global mesh of 17 cloud zones, to optimise applications and services.

Interoute makes it possible for organisations to integrate legacy, third party and digital IT environments onto single, secure, privately-connected global cloud infrastructure, creating the foundation for Enterprise Digital Transformation.
 
By integrating Rancher software, Interoute is now able to provide access to a full set of orchestration and infrastructure services for containers, enabling users to deploy containers in any of Interoute's 17 cloud zones across the world. Rancher is an open-source container management platform that makes it simple to deploy and manage containers in production.
 
Matthew Finnie, Interoute CTO, commented: "Enterprises developing and building apps in the cloud and those on a path to Digital Transformation need Digital ICT Infrastructure that allows them to build, test and deploy faster than ever before.

"The integration of Rancher software with Interoute Digital Platform gives developers access to a managed container platform, that sits on a global privately networked cloud, enabling true distributed computing."
 

Channel only distributor Pragma has reinforced its commitment to its growing partner base by announcing a range of new products and support initiatives to address market disruption in the years ahead.

During the company's ‘On Course for Success' partner conference held at the famous golf venue The Belfry this month, the Pragma team underlined the strength of its partnership with manufacturer Ericsson-LG (ELG) which aims to satisfy customer demands for on-premise, hybrid or cloud communications solutions and a seamless upgrade path across all three.

Ahed Alkhatib (pictured above), VP of Global Sales at ELG Enterprise, told the 150 plus partners who attended that the success of last year's launch of ELG's iPECS Cloud solution, initially through Pragma's channel in the UK, had enabled partners to move into hefty mid-market opportunities and had helped Pragma achieve 30 per cent growth for the second year in succession. "The UK was a launch platform for iPECS Cloud and the growth has been astonishing," said Alkhatib. "Cloud is where the growth is and the applications and mobility sector is also growing. I would say that if you are not seeing this in your business, change your dynamic."

However, ELG and Pragma remain totally committed to on-premise applications too as Alkhatib confirmed. "On-premise business will decline by one or two per cent by 2019, but it's still worth £5 billion dollars globally," he said. "There is now a fragmented approach to solutions - no one size fits all - and none of our competitors have the cloud, hybrid and on-premise solutions we have in our kit bag."

Alkhatib pledged ELG's continued investment in on-premise solutions while adopting a comprehensive cloud evolution programme giving partners the opportunity to address SME and mid-market opportunities via ELG's Virtual UCP private cloud solutions, which Pragma Sales and Marketing Director Will Morey described as a 'massive step forward for partners'. And picking up on the flexibility theme, Morey said Pragma was perfectly placed to help resellers prioritise on the customer experience.

"Being digital is a challenge for you and your customers trying to adapt to new technologies," he told delegates. "You are seeing leads from social media and data is driving the decisions you are making every day. Flexibility enables us to compete and win. Some customers may want cloud, some will want on-premise, some will want a solution tailored to their needs and others will just want the cheapest. We can offer iPECS in the cupboard, in the data rack, in the cloud or anything in between. It's the same proposition. Cupboard to cloud is now at the heart of many reseller propositions."

"We are also delivering UC and mobility on top of our cloud solutions. Mobility and collaboration are key to any comms solution. Work is no longer a location. We can provide a consistent solution delivered on all mobile or desktop platforms. It's about access to data, knowledge and insight. It's not just about providing comms, it's about putting data at the fingertips to improve the customer experience. It's about analysing the touch points and enhancing the customer experience delivered through applications. We can integrate into these applications at a business process level to create a stickier relationship."

This was the cue for Daan Donders, founder and CEO of new Pragma partner SO WIFI, to explain how partners can get any businesses with footfall involved with their customers via its high end Wi-Fi solution, which through social media gathers visitors' personal data including age, gender, email address, location and behaviour. "You'll get insights into exactly who your customers are and build contact lists of proven visitors faster than ever before. This is not conference waffle. Everyone in this room is delivering," he said.

At the Pragma Partner Awards event finale Conceptunet (pictured left) secured the New Reseller of the Year Award for its private cloud deployment across 80 sites and 3,000 users for Oxleas Health Trust. Overall Reseller of the Year was Focus Group.

Timico is preparing for its second year as sponsor of National Hunt's Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup and as a new national sponsor of Point-to-Point amateur horse. 

The IT company became the official sponsor of the Cheltenham Gold Cup at the end of 2015 in a four-year deal which awarded Timico preferred supplier status to The Jockey Club's portfolio of 15 racecourses.

Following a successful first Cheltenham Gold Cup last year, Timico decided to invest in grass roots racing.

Its Timico Mixed Open Series which began in January will culminate in a new Timico Mixed Open Gold Cup Final to be held at the Hunter Chase evening at Cheltenham Racecourse, the Home of Jump Racing, on Friday 5th May.
 
Tim Radford, Non-Executive Director at Timico, said: "Having sponsored some of our local Point-to-Points we were keen to take this commitment further, effectively creating a Gold Cup final for the amateur division.

"For Timico, being involved in racing sponsorship is a win-win. It gives us the opportunity to promote our brand to a national and international audience, and offer our colleagues, clients and suppliers the chance to be part of a hugely exciting sport.

"We wanted to offer a series that could act as a launch pad for top Point-to-Point horses that might progress into a career in professional racing. We see investment in grass roots racing as a positive step to support the sport and the owners, trainers and jockeys involved within it."

 Billing firm Union Street Technologies has set the dates for its upcoming 'streets Ahead' roadshow that will provide a launchpad for a new product, demos, tips on best practices and the lowdown on upgrades to Union Street's cloud infrastructure (underpinned by Microsoft Azure) that hosts aBILLity.

The roadshow stops at Glasgow on May 23rd, Newcastle May 24th, Bristol June 27th and London June 28th.

 Head of Sales and Marketing Vincent Disneur (pictured) said: "The roadshow is an opportunity for Union Street to show its reseller partners the latest developments and how they can help partners to boost profitability and efficiencies."

Commvault's incoming Director of Alliances for EMEA Ed Baker has pledged to strengthen partner relations across the region and bolster the firm's Alliances Programme.

He brings over 20 years of experience to the role and was previously Director for Data Centre Incubator Sales EMEAR at Cisco where he was responsible for building sales and technical teams.

Bruce Park, Vice President of EMEA for Channels and Alliances at Commvault, said" "With Ed's proven experience building teams and forging alliances with some of the biggest players in the industry, we will be able to offer more data management solutions and tools."

Baker added: "This role provides an opportunity for me to add real value for our customers by simplifying the way Commvault's offerings can be integrated into wider partner delivered service offerings."