Comms Dealer

Westcon Group and Polycom have linked up to stage their first virtual European channel seminar, connecting seven locations via video conferencing in a broadcast that explored the possibilities of global UC.

Themed 'UC Vision, Video Collaboration without Boundaries', the seminar was introduced by Area Sales VP of EMEA Channel Partners Keith Carter and Polycom executives, as well as David Grant, Senior VP EMEA at Westcon Convergence.

The UK event was broadcast from Polycom's Executive Experience Centre in London.

Phillip Pexton, Industry Analyst from Canalys, demonstrated the opportunity for video across EMEA and forecasted market growth of 34% by 2017: "This is a massive opportunity for resellers," he said. "Microsoft Lync is currently disrupting the market in a big way and threatening traditional IP PBX players. Polycom has a strategic alliance with Microsoft and is currently the leader in Lync phone shipments in EMEA with more than 60% of the market."

"As Unified Communications solutions become more complex with the move from hardware to software, increase in multi-vendor solutions, and ever-evolving eco-systems - the need for simplicity in doing business, deployment, support and processes has never been more important. Bringing it all together and simplifying business and processes - this is where the real value lies."

Lyn Driscoll, Account Director from Britannic Technologies, a Polycom Video UK Business Partner, commented: "We've talked about video conferencing taking off for so long now that it's refreshing to see such progress. Historically, video conferencing has been difficult to use and has presented issues with affordability and complexity in deploying the solutions.

"With the consumerisation of IT and the need for access anywhere, coupled with Polycom and Microsoft's vision, we can embrace this video proposition."

Edinburgh-based Commsworld has been awarded Virgin Gold Business Partner status, a reward for driving Virgin's market share in Scotland.

The accreditation also reflects Commsworld's new capabilities having developed a high-speed business-only network for transferring fast data and voice services across Scotland, powered by Fluency, the ISP acquired by the company last October.

Richard Nicol, Commsworld CEO, said: "This is a tremendous accolade. Commsworld take great pride in the fact that we partner with 'best of breed' suppliers and are delighted to be confirmed as a Virgin Gold Partner.

"Service standards and quality are extremely important to us and this status is testament to the investment and focus we have put into this area."

A spate of major contract announcements in the first few months of 2013 has created a spirit of optimism in the UK IT outsourcing market according to Ovum.

This activity has given a much-needed boost to the industry in the UK, while the government's emphasis on cost savings has also created opportunities for outsourcing providers, says the global analyst firm.

In a new report on the state of the UK IT services market, Ovum stated that although growth in UK and Ireland over the past two years has been anaemic at best (growing 1.5% in 2011 and 2.0% in 2012), things may be looking up.

The first five months of 2013 saw the announcement of $7.2bn of new contracts, including three megadeals (contracts valued at $1bn or more) involving three separate vendors: Arvato, Atos and Capita. The total contract value (TCV) announced so far this year suggests that 2013 should surpass the level announced in 2012 ($12.8bn) with relative ease.

However, it remains to be seen whether the spate of deals so far will provide the necessary impetus for significant growth in the IT services industry. "Despite the optimism engendered by the string of large deals announced so far in 2013, market conditions in the UK continue to be challenging," warns Ed Thomas, IT services analyst at Ovum.

"The slow rate of economic recovery means that many enterprises will still be wary of investing in IT projects. However, the recession has also ensured that cost cutting remains one of the top priorities for the majority of companies. This should provide opportunities for IT services vendors, although they will need to offer more than just a cheap service in order to win business in the mature UK market."

Ovum points to the public sector as a major part of the IT services market in the UK, and this sector has become even more important as the coalition government increases its use of outsourcing in order to meet ambitious savings targets.

While the industry has in the past been monopolised to a large extent by a limited number of large vendors, the UK government has put strategies in place to increase the level of competition.

"Vendors looking to gain entry into the public sector will inevitably lack experience of working with government clients, particularly when compared to the established players," added Thomas.

"Successfully delivering public sector projects requires a unique set of skills, which providers will have to acquire before they can compete successfully with the likes of HP and Capita."

SAP co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe plans to step down in May next year, leaving American Bill McDermott in sole charge of the German software giant. Snabe, who became co-CEO in February 2010 along with McDermott, will join SAP's supervisory board.

Industry watcher Ray Wang says he wouldn't be surprised if SAP appoints another co-CEO to replace Snabe, possibly Vishal Sikka, the board member responsible for technology and innovation. Sikka would act as 'a good counterweight to Bill McDermott's sales and business acumen', said Wang.

Ipanema Technologies has released details on a mobile device upgrade which allows for real-time control of application performance anytime, anywhere, says the firm.

The enhanced mobile access capabilities for its AppsWork service enables real-time control of application and network performance on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets for IT network managers and channel partners including VARs and MSPs.

Provided as a service, AppsWork enables IT professionals to take advantage of any application, including cloud and Internet based, guaranteeing performance and delivering full application visibility, claims the company.

Ipanema's upgrade also allows for real-time visibility of application usage and performance oversight including Application Quality Score (AQS), impacted sites and app groups, and service subscription information, all optimised for use on mobile devices.

Users can also opt to be notified in real-time about a change in AQS using a feature called 'Chatter,' that is available in the service portal itself as well as stand alone on any device.

"As both IT networking professionals and their end-users are increasingly working around the clock and out of the office, network oversight and maintenance as well as application performance control is of utmost importance," said Rogier van der Wal, Vice President Cloud Services, Ipanema Technologies.

"Understanding the needs and demand of all parties is intrinsic to Ipanema, and that is why we have delivered a solution that guarantees that the essential applications and networks businesses rely upon can be managed anytime, anywhere, using the various mobile devices that have become essential tools."

For channel partners, this upgrade also includes the added ability to change the business criticality of their customer's applications, directly through the service portal.

Previously, service administrators and enterprise customers were required to wait until the next business day for validation. This empowers our partners to deliver another value add to their customers as a service administrator.

According to a recent study by Ipanema in the US and Europe entitled KillerApps 2013, businesses in the US report that 69% of US organisations confirmed that application performance problems such as slowness or non-responsiveness are becoming more frequent in their organisations.

Through Ipanema's upgrade, IT professionals can now recover control of their applications knowing who is using what and for which performances and dynamically respond to poor application performance anywhere, anytime before the impact the end-users productivity.

Small cell developer and manufacturer ip.access has been selected to supply Jersey Telecom with 3G small cells for the island's first residential, business and public access deployment.

The full commercial roll-out of the service has already started after an initial deployment earlier this year.

ip.access SVP Sales and Operations Rob Jones said: "Indoor coverage in Jersey presents many challenges for mobile operators including the increased usage of metal components in building insulation. By deploying our indoor small cells in homes and business premises we are helping to turn not-spots into hot-spots and deliver the always-on connectivity demanded by the smartphone generation."

Tim Knights, Head of Mobile Networks, Jersey Telecom, added: "The small cells we have deployed so far have been well received by our customers. We've been able to both increase our indoor coverage and also off-load some capacity from the macro network to improve overall network performance and quality."

The small cells on the island are being supported by the ip.access nanoConverge gateway solution which enables operators to manage 2G, 3G and 4G small cells from a converged Gateway.

Abbey Telecom ramped up its fundraising campaign for Derian House Children's Hospice by taking part in a dragon boat race at Preston Marina. The crew of paddlers, which included Fylde MP Mark Menzies, finished in tenth place and raised over £2,200 for the charity.

"We've dedicated ourselves to promoting and participating in Derian House events this summer with a series of videos," said Abbey Telecom MD Tony Raynor. "But we were determined to put up a good show for the dragon boat racing day and managed to recruit over 25 paddlers for fundraising and competing.

"The team put in a stirring sprint finish in our final heat and we were within a whisker of making the final. It was a great day for everyone involved and we hope that it's given the charity a real boost."

Congratulations to Pinnacle Telecom, Redcare 5G and Freedom Communications who picked up the Gold, Silver and Bronze prizes respectively in BNP Paribas' inaugural Revolution sales team incentive scheme designed to drive the uptake of financing solutions in the channel.

The prizes included supercar driving, helicopter rides over London and a city break with West End theatre tickets.

"Since the June launch we've enrolled over 40 partners on the incentive, comprising 200 or so sales people," explained Suhale Vorajee, Head of Marketing at BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions.

"It's a simple, accessible scheme and we think that's one of the reasons it's so appealing. One finance transaction equals one entry. If your name is drawn then the entire sales team benefits."

The incentive originally planned to run until the end of August but has been extended by one month, now finishing in September.

"We took this decision to reflect the sales cycle we experience in the ICT market, which averages out at about four months," added Vorajee. "So we've extended the incentive period to give subscribed partners the best possible chance of securing one of the prizes."

Pure Storage, the flash enterprise array vendor, has announced the formation of a new international partner advisory board, the Pure Storage Partner Advisory Council (PAC). The company also unveiled changes to its Pure Storage Partner Programme (P3), including new partner tiers, expanded benefits, training tools and support features.

In its first full year of channel operations, the company signed more than 100 partners worldwide and achieved over 125% consecutive quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) channel growth.

"Today's businesses are increasingly deploying new technologies such as cloud solutions and virtualisation which are putting a strain on their existing storage infrastructures. They are looking for cost-effective storage solutions that will meet their need for quick access and enable them to process more transactions and accelerate their applications and services," said Dan Hayden-Hammond, Sales Director, Viadex.

Pure Storage first announced its plan to be 100% channel focused when it launched in August 2011. The company has expanded its international footprint, securing strategic partnerships with resellers across the EMEA and APAC regions, including Softcat in the United Kingdom and Antemeta in France.

"Flash storage is gaining acceptance as a mainstream medium now, and not just for performance gain. The channel needs to be prepared for this and should look to identify those storage vendors who can demonstrate a definite capability to support such workloads in a highly performant manner, at a cost-effective price point," said Clive Longbottom, Founder and Service Director, Quocirca.

A study into the financial health of UK's largest 1020 Telecommunication Services companies has revealed as many as 288 need an urgent survival plan, either from an injection of capital, a radical cost reduction scheme or financial restructuring if they're to continue to trade.

That's according to Plimsoll's latest research into the overall financial performance of each of the UK's main telecommunication services companies and scored each on their financial health. Each company has been given a rating of either strong, good mediocre, caution or danger.

David Pattison, Plimsoll's Senior Analyst, said: "We tested this method of analysis on a study of 351 previously failed companies, including all the latest retail failures, and this showed 320 had a caution or danger rating up to two years prior to their demise.

"This proves our method of analysis can identify the key characteristics of a failing company. If failures are predictable, and if enough warning can be given, the management has time to get a survival plan in place to save the company.

"It is clear from this study the Telecommunication Services market is going through a period of great change and the market is highly competitive. These 288 companies rated as danger are clearly operating under financial pressure and many risk being forced out of the market."