Comms Dealer

South West Communications Group has signed a deal to deploy a ShoreTel Unified Communications (UC) solution to gas turbine and turbine components experts Centrax.

The gas turbine manufacturers and turbine components supplier has operated for more than 65 years and has been based in Newton Abbot since 1955.

Centrax will take delivery of its new telephone system this summer to serve the needs of its 700-plus employees and to link its multiple plants and workshops at its Newton Abbot site.

The ShoreTel Unified Communications solution will provide telephony functionality to more than 650 users on site as well as integrating its 100 global mobile users via a Smartphone app to eliminate expensive overseas roaming charges while still giving them access to the functions of the telephone system.

In addition, IP phones will be deployed at Centrax's 10 overseas depots throughout Europe, Russia, North Africa and the Middle East.

Nick Sanderson, of Centrax, said: "Our existing telephone system has become outdated and both expensive and difficult to support. We needed a modern IP replacement that will accommodate the two divisions of the company while encompassing the size of our site, number of employees, overseas sites and mobile workers."

Voicenet Solutions has introduced VNinternational to its portfolio, enabling companies operating on a global basis to have a solution that offers geographic and non geographic toll-free numbers in over 50 countries and 4,000 cities worldwide direct to the customers Voicenet system.

This will give Voicenet customers and partners a solution that is easy to integrate allowing them to enhance their own customer services, said the firm.

Notts-based Adodo Consultancy has launched a free web application designed to help organisations of all kinds focus on the basics of marketing and creating an online presence.

"Old marketing methods are being replaced through technological innovation," stated Tim Glynn, Adodo's MD. "Just like the dodo, if you don't adapt your business will die."

The webapp, called HangoutLocalHelp.com, provides simple guides on how to create an online reputation and offers brand building information on social media and mobile marketing.

"Building and protecting your reputation is crucial," added Glynn. "Online reviews are second only to personal advice as the main driver for purchase decisions. It is critical that a business has its 'Reputation Marketing' in check."

Glynn's mantra, 'New Technology, Traditional Values', applies to all businesses that want to grow, he believes. "Small innovative organisations are the future and for those willing to grasp the opportunities these are exciting times," he added.

Glynn describes the webapp as a checklist to help users ensure users receive maximum return for their efforts.

"There are more benefits planned for the tool later in the year but for now the majority of SMEs, charities and social enterprises could improve their chances of success by acting on the information provided."

To incentivise downloads of the HangoutLocalHelp.com webapp Adodo has introduced an introductory offer and the chance of receiving a complementary £500 market research voucher.

Manchester-based cloud and colocation firm UKFast has been named as a finalist in four categories at the National Business Awards.

The £20m turnover firm has been shortlisted in the Blackberry Business Enabler of the Year, the Customer Focus Award, and the Croner Employer of the Year category; while CEO Lawrence Jones has been named as a finalist in the Smith and Williamson Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Jones said: "It has been a phenomenal year for UKFast so far, adding new directors, making our first acquisition and launching our eCloud range. To now add four shortlistings in the nation's biggest business awards is a huge nod to the hard work, professionalism and awesome attitude of the UKFast team.

"Once again we are representing the North West on a national stage and we couldn't be prouder."

So far this year the hosting firm has scooped several accolades including ranking as the 5th Best Workplace in the UK (medium category), the DataCentre Solutions award for Service Provider of the Year and the Institute of Customer Service Employee Engagement Award.

Enterprise-wide healthcare informatics will improve quality of medical services and efficiency of operations while reducing expenditures, according to Frost & Sullivan.

Like many other verticals, the intensely competitive and dynamic healthcare industry is looking to cloud computing as a means to improve quality of services while reducing costs, notes the think tank.

The mature healthcare IT market, in particular, needs a solution to grow revenues. While workflows are being streamlined and made accurate by solutions such as picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), radiology information systems (RIS), healthcare information systems (HIS), and clinical information systems (CIS), the market is in need of solutions that integrate these technologies, enabling all relevant patient and imaging data to be available at one spot and yet accessible across various locations. Such enterprise-wide data sharing can help healthcare service providers increase efficiency at nominal expenditure.

Cloud computing is quickly expanding into a key enabler for enterprise-wide solutions. Implementing cloud computing technologies appropriately can aid European healthcare providers improve the quality of medical services and the efficiency of operations, share information across geographic locations, and manage expenditures. The concept can be applied in a variety of ways, including data storage and data loss prevention, maintaining patient information records, and authorised sharing of information. For instance, recorded patient information may need to be shared beyond hospital boundaries during an emergency where time is a crucial factor. This can be done quickly and efficiently by providing authorised access to this information on the cloud.

With a mature PACS market across Europe, healthcare providers are in need of additional storage systems to back their data up, which can make the process of storing data into an expensive affair, affecting the operational budget. "By using cloud computing, the expenditure on hardware and storage space would be cut down, as cloud storage can cost almost 10 times less than regular storage systems," notes Frost & Sullivan Healthcare Analyst Raghuraman Madanagopal. "In addition, cloud storage implementation may result in a drastic readjustment of the amount spent on training resources to manage the storage systems."

Risk of data loss is also a major concern for most healthcare providers, as it has crucial impact on the operational efficiency of hospitals. Cloud computing provides extra safety in reducing the risk of data loss, by regularly upgrading itself and improving protection standards. Upgrades occur without any downtime and real time access is not impacted by this, therefore ensuring the 24/7 accessibility required by healthcare providers.

Cloud computing implementation is, however, in its early stages, and there are still a few restraining factors such as security and compliance concerns, shortage of qualified personnel to shift data from hardware to the cloud, and poor broadband penetration or low internet speeds in many parts of Europe.

Nevertheless, cloud computing and its services provide hospitals across Europe with excellent options to improve treatment quality and this will encourage large-scale implementation in the coming years. "Cloud service providers are constantly innovating themselves and improving their security standards in order to comply with different regulations and ensure high security," says Madanagopal.

"The advantages of cloud computing in terms of storage size and storage efficiency, data loss prevention and facilitating synchronised and authorised sharing of data can change the dynamics of the European healthcare informatics industry in the course of time."

Ness Technologies, provider of software product engineering services, business technology solutions and services, has named Pete Rogers as Vice President and General Manager of the UK and Ireland for its EMEA business.

He will focus on building the growing business in those geographies for Ness's Software Engineering System's (SES) business unit.

Rogers has worked in European sales and operations for over 30 years with VP-level jobs with both large and early-stage software and services companies.

Paul Lombardo, Senior VP & Managing Director of EMEA at Ness SES, said: "Pete's ability to work with clients to help them understand the business benefits of technology and services, as well as his expertise in Agile software development and SaaS and SLA-based service delivery, make him a significant asset to the EMEA team."

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."