Comms Dealer

Congrats to 4Com which scooped top place in the The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Chairman Daron Hutt collected the much coveted award for the mid-size company category from TV personality Ben Shephard who hosted the awards event.

4Com's expansion to more than 300 staff saw it compete in the medium-sized business category for the first time after featuring in the Best Small Companies List for the previous four years, achieving 12th place in 2015.

Hutt said: "Being named as the Number 1 Best Company to Work For by the Sunday Times is a massive step forward for us and, arguably, it's even harder this year as we were up against bigger companies in a new category.

"It is testament to the commitment and positivity of our staff that we have been able to achieve this ranking as an independent mid-sized business.

"Everybody at 4Com works incredibly hard to continually improve the working environment and to build a place where people genuinely want to work. So it's particularly gratifying to see this result as it is based entirely on what our team think."

Jonathan Austin, CEO and founder of Best Companies, added: "Organisations like 4Com that have demonstrated an ability to create an engaged workforce and recognise the importance of caring about their employees puts them in the best position to retain and attract the talent they need."

Power protection and connectivity product maker Tripp Lite has secured a distie relationship with Ingram Micro in the UK and Ireland.

The distributor joins Exertis, Micro-P and other component specialists in the vendor's two-tier model in the UK, and two others in Ireland.

Richard Tricklebank, Business Manager for Advanced Solutions at Ingram Micro UK&I, said: "Tripp Lite's complete product portfolio, which includes UPS systems, PDUs, racks, cooling, KVMs, cables, connectivity solutions and more, will now be available to Ingram Micro customers."

Peter Airs, Country Manager, Tripp Lite UK, added: "We have seen growth of the Tripp Lite brand in the UK over the past couple of years, and we see great potential for further growt."

CMS Distribution's international reach has extended to Spain with a new office opening in the capital Madrid.

The move follows the addition of Netherlands and Sweden to its multi-country proposition.

CMS Distribution said the Spanish market is a strategically attractive due to its size, quick-to-market time frame and its fast technology adoption cycle.

"If you are a US or far east vendor wanting to enter the European markets you have two choices - you either go with several distributors in each country or you opt for one master distributor and you rely on it to push out, coordinate, and work with the sub-distribution partners," stated David Elder, European Managing Director at CMS Distribution.

"Our strategic objective is to have a presence in all significant European markets and offer our partners the flexibility, attention and experience they need to become successful. Culturally and economically speaking, Spain is considered a key location for penetrating the European market."

CMS Distribution says it will continue its expansion within the European markets in order to achieve master-distributorship status for as many desirable new tech products and companies as possible, offering the opportunity to take a long-term strategic view to bringing products to market.

Technology services distributor Intelisys Global has signed UK-based network connectivity specialist Blue Planet Networks, which will join its Supplier Partner family.

Under the terms of a deal Blue Planet will offer its next generation Internet and SD-WAN technologies through Intelisys' network of sales agents in Europe.

Blue Planet had been selling previously its networking solutions directly to UK customers through its own reseller channel.

According to Blue Planet's CEO, John Hammond, the partnership with Intelisys means the firm will benefit from an accelerated sales cycle and the deal will help drive its growth plans across the EMEA region.

"Intelisys sales partners also gain faster access to our Internet and SD-WAN technologies, allowing them to build out new sales opportunities - so it's a win-win situation right across the channe," he said.

"We are also seeing how Intelisys Global's Technology Services Distribution model helps us to move remarkably quickly, as sales partners have already largely determined their client needs when they first get in touch and that results in a better outcome for everyone involved," Hammond says.

Intelisys Global UK MD Stephen Hackett added: "We've already had a lot of interest in Blue Planet's solutions through the sales partner network - not only in the UK but across Europe."

Distributor Exclusive Group has posted record financial results, reporting strong growth in each of its business divisions and global territories.

Despite currency volatility and economic and political uncertainties throughout European, Middle East and Asian markets, Exclusive Group's total 2016 revenues of €1.27bn represent 'balanced, organic like-for-like' annual growth of 22%, said the firm.

Exclusive Networks' cyber security and infrastructure operations says that half of the Group's top 10 vendors are showing annual growth of over 50%.

BigTec, the data centre transformation arm, now contributes over €100m to annual Group revenues with its portfolio of chiefly 'born in the cloud' webscale vendors.

BigTec's largest vendor, the recently IPO'd Nutanix, is now among the top five largest in the Group.

Including the full impact of its January 2016 acquisition of pan-Asian cyber security distributor, Transition Systems, year-on-year growth for Exclusive Group is over 51%.

The 2016 results do not reflect last month's acquisition of Benelux-based VAD, TechAccess.

"To succeed in the face of extraordinary global challenges is testament to our VAST vision, delivering service-defined value through a good balance of geographies and continued expansion into new markets, both organically and through strategic acquisitions," said Olivier Breittmayer (pictured), CEO at Exclusive Group.

"Our business divisions are consistently outperforming the market and complementing one another to provide compelling differentiators for our vendor, service provider, SI and specialist reseller partners."

The Government says it is determined to help SMEs in the ICT sector ‘grasp the nettle' and start selling products and services to the public sector. Speaking at the ‘Go Public Sector' event in London yesterday, Small Business Crown Representative Emma Jones (pictured) said: "I have a simple message. The Government is open for business and it is a good client for SMEs."

Jones was joined by senior representatives from the Cabinet Office SME Panel, the Crown Commercial Service, BT's Procurement division and specialist public sector trade organisation Innopsis in urging small comms and IT providers to take advantage of the Government's commitment, initially pledged in the Conservative's election manifesto and rubber stamped by Cabinet Office Minister Ben Gummer, to spend £1 of every £3 through SMEs by 2020.

"Selling to the Government is good for credibility and good for cash flow," emphasised Jones. "The Government pays 80% of undisputed invoices within five days and then rest are paid within 30 days," she stressed.

Jones also confirmed that simplification of the procurement process was high on the Cabinet's change agenda and a range of improvements are being trialled.

"Soon I hope somebody will say to me that selling to Government was a delightful experience," she said.

As a starting point, SME comms and IT providers were urged to search online for tender information - for example, Sell to Wales, Contracts Finder and TED (Tenders European Daily), and explore the G-Cloud Digital Market website. For more advice contact mike.thomas@innopsis.org

Leeds-based Diva Telecom is targeting businesses of all sizes with the launch Diva Cloud, a hosted telephony solution based on Ericsson-LG technology.

MD Erica Lewis commented: "Hosted telephony isn't a new concept but to-date it has been restrictive. As a company we'd rather wait until technological innovations reach full vitality. With the backing of Ericsson-LG's technology, Diva Cloud is ready to be put through its paces."

According to Diva over four in five UK organisations have adopted at least one cloud service.

The news follows Diva's launch of Gigabit City Leeds, an ultrafast business broadband service that went live in 2016.

Redwire CEO Camran Mirza has pledged to put the Ealing-based data centre owner and operator ‘on the channel map' and has enlisted Graham Byrne to lead its first partner recruitment campaign. Mirza said he is on a mission to devolve the power of data centres to their users having established RedwireDC, a new data centre designed for ‘modern enterprises and start-ups', he claimed.

"The concept of a modern data centre is changing with the evolution of cloud-based services," he stated. "The cloud shouldn't be exclusive. It should be flexible and accommodate our ever changing mobile world regardless of the platform a user is running."

RedwireDC is located on two connectivity thoroughfares with fibre from multiple networks and is positioned near high speed transport links from east London and the Docklands, through to Heathrow Airport.

According to MD Ameer Mirza (pictured above) the facility is another nail in the coffin of traditional data centres and office spaces, and he provides a new level of customer service akin to that offered by a family business.

"Businesses are not simply cogs in the machine, we empower them to be the machine," he commented. "The trend is towards hybrid data centres that cater for just about anyone's needs. A place that allows the consumer and enterprise to come together and access the cloud however they see fit."

With the increasing number of enterprises developing cloud first strategies there is a channel opportunity to provide not just adaptability but also customisability, believes Byrne.

"Redwire resides at the intersection of the realm of people, offices and the traditional IT stack, hosted in a DC and connected to the public cloud," he said.

"Security is our foremost priority, ensuring that the co-work and serviced office space above is separated from our clients' sensitive information and equipment stored below."

Exertis and Hammer have scooped a distribution contract for Dell EMC, provider of converged infrastructure, servers, storage and data protection technologies.

Storage specialist Hammer was acquired by Exertis last October and the two companies will provide resellers in the UK with the full Dell EMC portfolio.

The move follows a global and country rationalisation of Dell/EMC distribution partners.

Phil Brown, Exertis, IT Sales and Commercial Director, said: "Exertis and Hammer have both been long-standing and successful partners for Dell in both client and enterprise, and Hammer has a track record as a storage specialist.

"We have previously helped Dell bring its channel programmes to life and are looking forward to delivering the new Dell EMC partner programme to a broad reach of customers that can benefit from the solutions and technical expertise provided by both of our companies."

Hammer Commercial Director Jason Beeson added: "This is a great example of how our two teams are already leveraging the complementary strengths of both companies.

"We have increased our presence in the enterprise market through key vendor additions, acquisition and by investing in people."

A report in The Sunday Times suggests that Daisy Group is planning a £1.4bn return to the stock market.

If true, the move would come circa two to three years after CEO Matt Riley took the company private in a £494m deal supported by investors Toscafund and Penta Capital.

Riley founded Daisy in 2001 and according to the report he is weighing up the possibility of a float later this year or early next year.