Comms Dealer

Swyx has lifted the curtain on its latest software, SwyxWare 2013, incorporating a number of new features including CTI +, which turns any phone into a VoIP extension and compatibility with Microsoft's latest generation of software.

In the latest version there are more than 600 new functions in the area of call and contact management. ??The new version is compatible with Microsoft Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, SQL 2012 and Outlook 2013.

"Rather than restrict the new version to a few new core features we were able to integrate over 600 enhancements that over time will improve the whole user experience, especially in the area of call and contact management," said Dr. Michael Thomson, Head of Development at Swyx.

"Personally, the feature I like most is 'Linked Speed Dial Keys'. By simply hovering your mouse over any contact in your SwyxIt! you can see at a glance all their presence information plus icons for a choice of contact channels such as email, Instant Messaging, phone/video call. When you click on the 'Linked Speed Dial' arrow key, it expands the window to display all the relevant contact information on-screen and you simply select the best method of communication according to their status."

TalkTalk Business has achieved Mitel Certified Professional (MCP) accreditation in virtual solutions. The accreditation underlines the strength of TalkTalk Business' and Mitel's six year partnership, as TalkTalk Business aims to build on its presence in the hosted UC market.

Only a handful of engineers have achieved the standard throughout the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Building on this capability, TalkTalk Business is committed to stepping up its education and investment programme for staff to support the increasing customer demand for its service.

Product and Marketing director of TalkTalk Business, Andrew Lockwood, said: "TalkTalk Business sees a definitive trend towards customers demanding an on-net, cloud-based service. Many businesses want to move the complex aspects of their communications off site, yet be secure in the knowledge that they have a service that guarantees business continuity.

"IT departments are faced with the challenge of having to accommodate a multitude of devices, brought about by the growing trend of employees using their own device for work purposes. Although this approach saves companies from investing in expensive handsets, it requires a high degree of flexibility and this is exactly what enterprise communications offers, along ability to accommodate new technologies as they develop."

Eclipse Internet has staged its first annual charity day in aid of the RSPB and the event also saw the launch of a new managed communications network Eclipse has created to support the work of the country's largest nature and conservation charity.

The RSPB network sees over 200 locations being connected across the country, many in hard to reach rural areas, allowing the deployment of new services and ways of working, including access to more real-time video.

Activities on the charity day ranged from an office virtual bird watch, design the best bird house and an angry birds tournament. These activities saw over £200 raised to help the RSPB give nature a home.

Pete Tomlinson, Director of Sales & Marketing at Eclipse, said: "When we were completing the tender process it struck the whole team just how much good work the RSPB team does.

"Everyone wanted to get involved beyond being the supplier of their new network and the annual charity day is a great way to raise both money and awareness of nature. The day this week was a lot of fun and we can't wait to continue building the relationship and celebrating each year!"

Sue Pickin, Senior Community Fundraiser at RSPB in the South West, added: "The new network is going to make a huge difference to our work and we are also excited that Eclipse has organised an annual charity day for us."

Pictured: Some entries in the design the best bird house competition

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has formed a new strategic partnership with building services contractor TClarke to offer an end-to-end voice and data solution as an integral part of TClarke's Intelligent Buildings offering.

In selling, servicing and supporting Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise solutions TClarke will open up new opportunities within the building services market segment through its focus on the design, through to maintenance, of data centres.

TClarke's Intelligent Buildings division delivers all of the IP-based 'active' systems that sit on the cabling within a building - from lighting control and CCTV to telephony and Audio Visual capabilities. All of these elements can contribute to a customer's power consumption levels, and TClarke's expertise in reducing emissions was a key element in the decision to partner with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise based on this shared focus on lowering power consumption and overall TCO.

The new offering will also enable TClarke to better serve its customers throughout the entire project. The partnership will eliminate the common problem of having too many parties involved in a project and as such, will add a huge advantage to customers in making the entire design process, build and ongoing maintenance much simpler.

Chris Harris, ICT Operations Manager, TClarke Intelligent Buildings, said: "This partnership is a key strategic step for us in further developing our Intelligent Buildings division, by providing customers with a full voice and data solution. By partnering with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise we will also gain the capability to integrate these directly into our data centre deployment, building on our existing offering."

David Parker, Vice President and General Manager for the UK and Ireland, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, added: "Understanding the business needs and challenges TClarke customers face across the whole project (building services, voice, LAN, WLAN & Data Centre) means this simplifies the process for the customer with one company taking responsibility for the whole project."

Siemens Enterprise Communications has released details on Project Ansible, a communications and collaboration platform designed to extend beyond UC to deliver increased business performance through real-time engagement by unifying voice, video, social communications, search, business process applications and other channels into a seamless, immersive, intuitive experience, claims the firm.

Developed over two years in collaboration with frog, a product strategy and design consultancy, Project Ansible is an immersive platform that erases the boundaries separating multiple communication channels and business process applications and integrates them into a 'single pane of glass' providing visibility across a workgroup, an enterprise and the Web at the same time.

With Project Ansible, challenging or time-consuming tasks such as searching for information across multiple sources (e.g. text, email and social channels), conducting live/virtual meetings, or generating transcripts of conference calls becomes as easy as making a phone call, claims the vendor.

"Project Ansible is designed to address core challenges faced by so many organisations today. Enterprises are at the centre of a complex web of interconnected systems that are hard to manage, companies are failing to drive the full value of those investments, and, while communications tools increasingly play a more central role in business the user experience is broken," said Hamid Akhavan, CEO of Siemens Enterprise Communications.

"Our aim is to define a new industry category through aggregation, experience and integration into business processes.  Project Ansible defines a clear path forward to next-gen solutions through an evolutionary approach for our existing customers and creates an opportunity for Siemens Enterprise Communications to reach a wide range of new customers while leading our industry to the next generation of user experience."

Project Ansible is expected to begin limited customer trials at the end of 2013 and be generally available later in 2014.

Siemens Enterprise Communications will unveil more Project Ansible features over time as the company continues development and moves toward general product availability. 

"Project Ansible integrates all the bits and pieces that we have been talking about in UC," said Nicole Dufft, Pierre Audoin Consultants. "Based on WebRTC, Project Ansible integrates and puts into context all the tools we use in our daily work routines - voice, web and video communication, team collaboration, social networking, business process applications, content management, enterprise search, and even some analytics.  Equally important to this 'contextual integration', usability has been a key focus in developing Project Ansible."

Cloud communications provider Voicenet Solutions has launched VNiStream Plus, a new connectivity solution that builds on its current range.

VNiStream Plus was developed to provide an enhanced level of service and availability to companies that have high call usage and typically fall into the 10 to 30 employees bracket.

By developing a solution that incorporates two PSTN and Business Grade DSL lines and incorporating this into Voicenet Solutions' communications platform they can provide seamless connectivity in the event of a line fault, normally only available to larger enterprises.

Voicenet offers a range of connectivity solutions from single Business Grade DSL to implementation of MPLS Networks with VNiStream Plus bridging the gap between Standard Business Connectivity and EFM.

Call management service provider Akixi has concluded an agreement with Inclarity Communications to supply call management reporting for the Inclarity hosted VoIP service.

Inclarity is branding Akixi call management as Inclarity Reporter for its channel partners and customers.

Akixi hosted call management reporting works with Broadsoft Broadworks technology to deliver all features remotely as SAAS (software as a service) and not as a conventional package on a customer's server.

An important consideration for Inclarity in partnering with Akixi is the service's wallboard functionality, a real-time reporting system. All standard reporting features are provided and alarms can be set for time intervals relating to wait times or call lengths.

Enzo Viscito, Managing Director of Inclarity Communicationsm, said: "The addition of call management and ACD reporting with wallboard display rounds off our service offering."

Bart Delgado, Managing Director, Akixi, stated: "Inclarity joins a growing list of VoIP service providers that have found the Akixi call management service to be a complementary offering for their channel partners and customers.

"The Inclarity Reporter call management and ACD reporting service offers 'cradle to grave' call tracking with reporting and full real-time wallboard display."

Plantronics has named Erna Arnesen as VP of Global Channel and Partner Marketing with a remit to develop the company's global channel and strategic alliance marketing strategies.

"Our partners are strategic to Plantronics so it is important that we develop programmes that can help them be more successful," said Marilyn Mersereau, chief marketing officer, Plantronics.

"Erna brings such tremendous experience with channel and alliance partners in both the hardware and software industries. She will help us build a global programme to unify and accelerate our channel efforts."

Arnesen will work with both channel and alliance partners on developing customised marketing programs. In addition, she will develop programmes for new channels such as in health care and with cloud service providers.

Arnesen said: "The ecosystem we build with our channel and alliance partners is going to be critical as the company expands its footprint in enterprise and SMB environments through broader deployment of unified communication solutions."

Arnesen previously worked at Cisco, most recently as vice president of Global & Strategic Partners for Cisco Services.

She also led the WW Global Services Channels organisation during her time at Cisco, including services channel strategy and go-to-market, channel programmes, distribution, marketing and partner enablement.

During her tenure, the Cisco Services Partner Program (CSPP) was developed, integrating channel programs and initiatives into a globally consistent program.

Previously, Arnesen led the Global SMB, Partner and Industry Solutions Marketing team at Symantec, where she was responsible for messaging, campaigns, and programmes for the SMB segment as well as for global development teams covering key vertical industries.

She also served as vice president, Global Channel and Partner Marketing, responsible for creating and building the channel and alliance marketing organization, strategy and programs globally for Symantec, during and after the acquisition of Veritas.

Prior to joining Symantec, Arnesen had more than 20 years experience in channel sales, marketing, and alliance management with such companies as Fujitsu Softek, Saba Software, CyberSource and SGI.

She also led channel teams, defined and built channel strategies and programs at NeXT and at Apple Computer. She began her career as a value-added reseller selling vertical applications on DEC platforms.

Arnesen was honored with the 2011 Women of Influence Award by the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal. She has also received the YWCA Tribute to Women in Industry (TWIN) award, and is a graduate of Leadership California. In addition, she was named a 2012 Woman Who Made her Mark by Watermark. Arnesen has a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College.

It has been a successful year for Content Guru and its reseller offering, NGware. Now part of the Vodafone product arsenal, the NGware proposition appears set for a further 12 months of strong uptake by the key players in the reseller market.

Content Guru made a splash in the channel last year when it entered the market in partnership with Cable&Wireless Worldwide with its reseller offering, NGware. Since first showcasing the product at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium in July 2012, NGware has continued to generate interest across the market, with some of the channel's key players getting on board. Underpinning the success of Content Guru's platform is the years of technical know-how and experience that the business brings to the table.

Content Guru was founded back in 2005, making it one of the pioneers of the cloud communications revolution. The company was the brainchild of Redwood Technologies directors, Sean and Martin Taylor, who founded the company after realising the early potential for the development of cloud services. The company cut its teeth in cloud with the creation of the revolutionary storm platform in partnership with Cable&Wireless Worldwide, now part of Vodafone, using the platform to service mission-critical processes for some of the UK's best- known blue-chip enterprises.

When it came to creating NGware for the reseller market, Content Guru opted to build the platform from the same mould. The model of the NGware platform mirrors that of its enterprise predecessor on both an organisational and networking level to deliver the same degree of power and flexibility.

"When we began building NGware, we made a conscious decision not to water down any of the functionality that we had developed for our enterprise customers."
John Rees, Content Guru Commercial Director

Embedded in Vodafone's tier 1 network infrastructure, the platform is able to provide its users with massive scale and real blue-chip grade resilience. This enterprise heritage, argues Content Guru Commercial Director, John Rees (pictured), has been fundamental to the success of NGware over the past year.

"When we embarked upon building our proposition for the channel, we were in the unique position of having access to tried-and tested technology and a well-established partnership model," Rees explains.

"Cloud is a learning process and getting it right takes time. Our position as early adopters and our work with storm meant that when we built NGware we already had more than 6 years of experience in delivering cloud-based solutions for a range of flagship enterprise customers, from EDF Energy to National Rail."

"Those years have been invaluable in allowing us to hone and perfect the processes required to effectively deliver and administer cloud-based communications," Rees continues. "Thanks to that formative period, when it came to launching NGware, we were able to refer to this experience and take our proposition to market with real confidence of being able to deliver real high quality solutions."

The enterprise heritage of NGware permeates down to a technological level. The software which drives the platform has been developed by Content Guru sister-company, Redwood Technologies. Founded in 1993, Redwood has twenty years of experience in providing best-in-class solutions for tier one carriers, banks and governments in more than 50 countries worldwide. Content Guru has taken this enterprise grade technology and made it available to its channel partners via the NGware platform.

"When we began building NGware, we made a conscious decision not to water down any of the functionality that we had developed for our enterprise customers," says Rees. "As a consequence, NGware provides resellers with a truly unique proposition. The platform is perhaps the only offering in the market that provides the reseller with access to enterprise-grade inbound, SIP, PBX and contact centre functionality as part of a seamless integrated suite."

This, Rees explains, is part of the company's philosophy for the channel: "We don't believe in simply giving our customers a rigid set of limited features to sell on. That simply leads to a commoditised market and squeezes that margin that our customers can make on what they are selling."

"We believe in working with our customers in a collaborative partnership model. We don't provide a finished product, but rather a powerful set of building blocks. We then work with the partner to help them package the features of the platform in a way that suits them, their strategy and their customers. We even extend the option for customers to white label services and create their own intellectual property. This is all designed to support our customers as much as possible, and help them build their own offerings that will help them really stand out in the marketplace and win, valuable, long-term, sticky relationships."

To find out more about NGware call +44 (0) 1344 852 350 email sales@contentguru.com

Sennheiser has completed its business headset portfolio with the PRESENCE Mobile Series, a UC audio device that incorporates HD voice clarity, three digital microphones and the new SpeakFocus technology that detects the user's voice and filters out background noise, allowing phone calls in noisy environments and providing listeners with a crystal clear sound experience, claims the firm.
 
WindSafe technology reduces wind noise, addressing one of the biggest sources of annoyance for the listener at the other end of the line. It does so by choosing the best mix of the three microphones and processes the sound to determine the optimal way to balance and enhance the voice of the user.
 
PRESENCE Mobile Series has been designed for Unified Communications professionals and consists of a headset and a USB dongle that allows for a plug & play experience with computers, switching seamlessly between a mobile phone and the Unified Communications client. PRESENCE Mobile Series is also optimised to be used with Microsoft Lync.

PRESENCE Mobile Series is also equipped with the patented ActiveGard hearing protection system to safeguard users against hazardous incoming noises that can be dangerous to hearing.
 
Jane Craven, Director of Sales for Sennheiser UK Telecoms, said: "With the evolution of the modern enterprise towards more flexible, agile working practices that allow people to work remotely and across multiple locations, there is a need for a high quality headset solution that can meet these demands."