Comms Dealer

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has appointed Nuvola Distribution as a nationwide distributor to small and medium-sized businesses.

Nuvola will offer resellers throughout the UK and Ireland a complete range of products and services including design, specification and installation, as well as maintenance, support and managed services across the complete range of voice, data (including WLAN) and performance management products.

Nuvola will look to offer hosted voice solutions for the SMB market by the new year, and hopes to offer training services in the future.

The new relationship with Nuvola is part of the company's strategy to drive Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise solutions into the SMB marketplace, and follows the recent announcement of a partnership agreement with TClarke to move into the growing data centre market.

Jeff Manser, Technical Business Manager at Nuvola Distribution, said: "We have chosen to work with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise because of their forward thinking strategy and the strength of their portfolio.

"Alcatel-Lucent provides opportunity for both distribution and resellers to grow by ensuring that their solutions are not over-distributed. Resellers have the opportunity to provide something different to their customers, allowing for flexibility, creativity and added service value for their customers."

Peter Tebbutt, Country Sales Director for UK&I at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, added: "Distribution is vital in the future path for Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise as distributors have the flexibility to offer complementary and value-added services to support resellers, regardless of the size of their businesses.

"We are looking to grow all aspects of our distribution business, and this new relationship with Nuvola is in line with our UK&I growth strategy to recruit new business partners and to further enable our existing partners in terms of their offering to end customers."

Gamma has joined forces with Semafone to provide a fully hosted secure payments solution for contact centres.

Companies will now be able to use Semafone's patented technology via a hosted service, taking contact centre telephone payments out of scope from Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) regulations.

In addition to helping to eliminate fraud, this also further reduces the cost of compliance compared to the price of CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) deployment.

The secure telephone payments software will be available alongside the Semafone-enabled SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) presented by Gamma, and will offer customers a cost-effective and flexible solution that can be scaled up or down according to business requirements.

Gamma's secure hosting facilities ensure that the system is resilient and that multiple - on and off-shore - sites can be protected quickly and easily at relatively low cost, said the firm.

Using Semafone's technology, customers are able to make a payment using their telephone keypad to transmit credit card data directly to the bank, so no sensitive details are held in the contact centre's infrastructure.

Card numbers are not spoken aloud and individual key tones are masked by the Semafone application so that they cannot be recognised by their sound.

Throughout the transaction the contact centre agent can neither hear nor see sensitive card information, but remains on the call to deliver a high level of customer service.

"We are increasingly supporting contact centre implementations where the features of SIP trunking, including flexibility in number routing and scalability, are really benefiting those businesses both in cost effectiveness and in overall service availability," commented Alan Mackie , head of voice services at Gamma.

"Contact centres are looking for additional services from SIP connections, and we are delighted to work in partnership with Semafone to provide a solution for PCI compliance to businesses in a hosted model that is both scalable and easy to deploy and support. We see this as a significant addition, allowing Gamma's channel partners to provide a more complete network solution to their contact centre customers using Semafone's software."

Tim Critchley, CEO of Semafone, added: "It is vital that merchants ensure that card data is always secure, not only to protect the consumer, but also to avoid the damage to brand reputation that can result from a breach. We hope that together with Gamma, we can help even more companies achieve straight-forward, cost effective PCI compliance, keeping sensitive information secure."

Scotland could be in line for a boost in high quality jobs as the country's thriving technology industry pushes the boundaries both at home and internationally, according to a new survey of the sector.

More than 70% of companies in digital technologies plan to employ more people in the coming year and 58% will be looking for graduates to promote innovative growth, said the review by ScotlandIS, which provides an annual health check for the industry.

But while the good news is that jobs are in the pipeline, the less good news is that skills shortages mean employers are still struggling to find candidates who are suitably qualified for an intensely competitive global arena.

A spokesperson for 9-20 Recruitment, the Glasgow-based specialist technology recruitment company which sponsored the survey and added expert analysis and commentary, said: "The challenge is keeping the talent coming through from universities and colleges to keep up with demand for skilled workers."

The survey suggests that software, web, telecoms and IT businesses contribute more than £4 billion to the Scottish economy and support more than 100,000 jobs in more than 1000 innovative companies. Their markets include health, energy, aviation, financial services and the public sector.

Of those surveyed, 71% said that they were optimistic or very optimistic about the year ahead, with 67% reporting a rise in turnover. The vast majority of companies - 80% - expect sales to grow in 2013 and only 8% expect to see a decline.

Encouragingly for Scotland's international position, there is an increasing focus on building software products, with the number of companies engaged in this field up to 16% from 12.4% last year.

There is, indeed, significant emphasis on global focus, with 47% of smaller companies, 58% of mid-sized companies and 84% of larger companies already active in export markets with many more in all segments planning to engage.

And in what could be interpreted either as a reflection of tighter lending criteria or a determination to retain executive control, 82% of smaller companies and 63% of mid-sized companies are funding themselves either through founders' capital or retained profits.

Polly Purvis, executive director of ScotlandIS, said: "There is an increasing buzz about the industry as business and government transform their operations through the smart application of technology."

However, reservations remain across the industry about perceived skills shortages. Alastair O'Brien, deputy chair of ScotlandIS, said: "The software industry in Scotland is crying out for suitably qualified graduates.

"Growth in our industry is being restricted and Scotland is losing out to other countries. It is unacceptable that, in the midst of a world-wide digital revolution, Scotland doesn't have enough talented graduates to exploit fantastic global opportunities."

SAP has acquired KXEN in what could be the first of several spot acquisitions as the firm accelerates its product introduction cycles.

KXEN, a cloud-based technology provider of predictive analytics, brings predictive capabilities to SAP and the SAP HANA platform enabling customers to gather big data and leverage it before their competitors, according to the firm.

"The combination of KXEN with analytics and business intelligence solutions from SAP intends to deliver the capability organisations need to innovate for growth in high volume data environments," said Michael Reh, EVP of Business Information Technology.

A group of riders from Networks First have completed the 110 mile Stratford to Stratford two day cycle ride, raising £3,100 for Prostate Cancer UK.

Sallie-Ann Allen, Head of Operations and support crew member, said: "Prostate cancer is a cause close to our hearts at Networks First, so choosing a charity to support was simple. If detected in its early stages there is a high successful treatment rate. We're proud to be raising much needed money for Prostate Cancer UK to support the great work they do."

Tandberg Data has signed an agreement with Hammer, the UK-headquartered distributor dedicated to storage, to distribute Tandberg Data's portfolio of data storage and data protection products throughout Europe.

Eddy Bergiers, Hammer's Regional European Sales Director, said: "We see Tandberg Data as playing a significant role in developing our tape and backup business across mainland Europe, and we look forward to working closely with it to fulfill the needs of both new and existing resellers focused on this market."

Gerard Marlow, General Manager for Business Development at Hammer, added: "Tandberg Data offers an out-of-the-box working solution complete with backup software, ensuring a cost- and time-effective way to get the technology up and running. Also, by offering Fibre Channel interface on certain products, we are able to address the needs of the Apple marketplace more than ever before with our Tandberg Data offerings."

Hats off to wholesale network operator Virtual1 which has debuted in The Sunday Times 'Tech Track 100' league table reaching 33rd position.

Companies appearing on the list are typically owned and run by entrepreneurs; have up to 200 staff, 3-year sales growth around 40%-280% and sales ranging from £5m-£50m. Virtual1's sales growth was over 93%pa in that period

Managing Director Tom O'Hagan commented: "This recognition shows how far we have come, as a team, over the past three years. We have a vision that encompasses continuous innovation and growth, to both extend and develop our service within the industry.

"This listing is testament to all the hard work the team have put in over that period, but the story does not end here - there's far more to come from Virtual1."

Confidence within the IT contracting community is up year-on year, according to recent research by professional umbrella employment provider, giant group.

Results of its latest contractor survey of IT specialists point to increased confidence in the temporary market. Compared to figures over the last two years, the length between assignments is reducing, with the majority (82%) citing less than 31 days.

In comparison, those recording 90 days and above has halved since 2011. Added to this, over half of respondents are expecting job opportunities in IT to grow over the coming year and a further 64% predicting their earnings will increase.

The survey also suggests that the top sectors for IT contracting opportunities over the next 12 months will be Support Services (26%), Financial Services (19%), Public Sector (14%) and Engineering and Construction

Matthew Brown, Managing Director of giant, commented: "During times of budget and staff cuts, the demand for contractors has a tendency to spike. However, as positivity returns to the economy it is encouraging to note that the IT contracting community is reporting an increase in opportunities.

"It's clear that organisations are continuing to recognise the value these experts can bring to businesses and are expecting to not only utilise this resource over the next year, but also potentially allocate more budget to these specialists."

Outsourcery has successfully certified against the CIF Code of Practice for Cloud Service Providers (CSPs).
 
The CIF Code of Practice is a credible, certifiable tool that allows CSPs to demonstrate that they meet specified requirements of transparency, accountability and capability. It aims to standardise enterprises offering cloud services to provide clarity, transparency and assurance to end users seeking to migrate to the cloud.
  
Piers Linney, co-CEO of Outsourcery and member of the CIF Code of Governance Board, said: "As one of CIF's founding members, and having been involved with the initial consultation process for the Code of Practice itself, it's something that we have been fully committed to from day one.

"A crucial element of the CIF Code of Practice is trust. With no bona fide cloud standards currently available in the market, end users have few benchmarks against which they can measure CSPs. The Code provides such a benchmark, ensuring that users of cloud services have access to all of the information they would need to be able to make informed choices about their provider."
 
Under the CIF CoP, CSPs are permitted to use existing certifications towards CIF self-certified status, including the CIF certified status of partners.

APM Group has been working with CIF to encourage larger vendors who provide the vital infrastructure to smaller CSPs to go through the CIF certification process, which will not only provide an added level of credibility at the very start of the cloud supply chain but will mean larger providers can enable their certified status to be used by network partners who use the infrastructure to deploy services to customers.
 
"CSPs do not need to provide all aspects of service delivery and can effectively 'share' certifications with partners," Linney continued. "Having now achieved the certification for ourselves, we will be actively encouraging CSPs in our partner network to follow suit. Ensuring transparency at every touch point on the cloud supply chain is key to creating a fully sustainable and trustworthy cloud ecosystem. The more that CSPs participate with CIF, and get certified, the better it will be for the industry as a whole."
 
Richard Pharro, CEO of APM Group, added: "Organisations seeking to use cloud services need a straightforward way to qualify potential suppliers that will accurately define the services offered and standards of operations and security. Outsourcery, being such a well-recognised and respected player in the industry, represents a real coup for the Code of Practice, and serves a great example of the industry at large. We look forward to working closely with them to encourage their partner network to certify and to drive best practice in cloud delivery."

Griffin has joined forces with Red Island Consulting to develop a Public Services Network (PSN) Partner Programme designed to enable 750 Griffin partners to go through the PSN framework accreditation process more cost effectively. The programme was officially launched on 18th September at The Science Museum in London where a panel of experts will discuss the PSN framework, the accreditation process, how to win business and the next steps for success.

"The Public Sector represents a huge growth opportunity for our partners," stated Griffin MD, Philip Grannum. "Historically, it has been the preserve of the big players like BT and Cable &Wireless but this legacy is now changing.

"Getting on the PSN framework is a daunting task as well as an expensive one. We are working with Red Island Consulting to change this, simplifying the steps required that will enable our partners to effectively compete and win in the Public Sector."

IT spend within the public sector is set to be in the region of £7bn billion in 2013-14, with £1.7bn being spent on telecoms alone, pointed out Grannum.

The PSN has been introduced to create a 'network of networks' throughout the public sector, replacing the fragmented nature of public sector networks with one standardised set of protocols.

PSN covers purchasing at all levels from central government bodies to your local library, schools, GPs and blue light services.

Traditionally, bidding for public sector contracts has been seen as a lengthy, bureaucratic process. Most SMEs have not even attempted to enter into this arena, many assuming cynically that they would never be able to win business against larger rivals.

But the government is now focused on creating a more competitive and less bureaucratic public sector marketplace and is looking to SMEs to provide more innovative, flexible and better value ICT solutions, driven through open competition between more suppliers in the market.

"Our aspiration is that, by value, 25 per cent of government ICT procurement should be with SMEs by 2015," said Francis Maude at The Cabinet Office's Procurement Briefing 2013.

"This will improve competition for government contracts, allowing us to open up to a larger number of suppliers and encourage innovation. The whole way government procures and delivers technology is being radically overhauled to ensure we get the best value for money. This target is now being stretched further with an ambition of 50% of all new IT spend through SMEs by 2014.

Current estimates suggest that 80% of the public sector will be PSN-compliant by the end of 201, and according to Grannum this is good news for partners.

"We are confident that this highly innovative programme will help our Partners to protect and grow their public sector customer base, closing the door to suppliers that are not PSN-accredited," he said.

"SMEs are already benefiting from G-Cloud where 64% of Government is through SMEs generally for cloud based services. The PSN Partner Programme will enable SMEs to take this to the next level, enabling them to sell end to end cloud services as well providing innovative communication services such as SIP and contact centre solutions."