Comms Dealer

Masergy has signed up as an Intelisys Global EMEA supplier partner and aims to replicate the success of its proven business model in the US across the EMEA region.

William Madison, Vice President for the Strategic Partner Programme at Masergy Communications, said: "Partnering with Intelisys Global for EMEA is a smart move for Masergy as we have had strong, long-term success with this business model in the US. We look forward to building on this with Intelisys Global across the EMEA region."

Stephen Hackett, MD for Intelisys Global, added: "Intelisys Global Sales Partners are increasingly having conversations around SD-WAN, Managed Security and ways to maximise the productivity of cloud, so there's a pressing requirement for agile solutions that can evolve to meet future customer requirements." added

"So having a powerful yet easy to understand and deploy approach, such as Masergy's Software Defined Platform, in their solutions portfolio will bring real benefits in terms of more customised solutions and faster time to deployment."

Unify has added a new conference room solution to its Circuit platform, Circuit Meeting Room, which gives mobile and distributed workforces a combination of video conferencing and social collaboration.

Luiz Domingos, Head of Product House, said: "We're combining collaboration software with video and audio conferencing to bring together mobile workers and capture the knowledge and results of meetings in rea-time."

Unify has also introduced a new desktop option and increased features and functionality for mobile users.

"Circuit Meeting Room is designed to help businesses turn any conference or 'huddle' room into an audio and video collaboration space that works for them," added Domingos.

The Circuit desktop app offers the same functionality found in the web version, but supports those users who have a preference or an IT requirement for a solution that is not browser-based.

Unify is set to release more Circuit updates focused on improving mobile functionality, including support for Apple CallKit and SiriKit on iOS 10 devices, giving Circuit calls the same priority as cellular calls and enabling users to operate many Circuit functions hands-free while on-the-go.

Circuit will also offer 3D touch support on iOS 10 devices, simplifying navigation in the Circuit app. Additionally, push notifications will alert mobile users to new activity within the Circuit application, even if the app is not currently open.

The Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC), an industry body focused on promoting the role of wholesale ICT distribution, has embarked on a campaign to raise the profile of distributors and their evolving role at the vanguard of technological advancement using case studies, white papers and social media.

The initiative reflects the emergence of a 'new distribution model' and will be supported by research and analysis conducted by Comms Dealer sister comany IT Europa which has identified significant shifts in the products and services being offered by Europe's leading distributors.

"As end-user market demand for cloud-based solutions and managed services grows, distributors are adapting their business models and developing new services to support channel partners," stated IT Europa MD Alan Norman (pictured).

"The emergence of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and the increasing demand for mobility and the integration of technologies to support digital transformation are further fuelling such changes.

"There has been a sea change in the way two-tier channels work in recent years, and we have seen in our research of European VARs, integrators, MSPs and other channels that they are adopting a more value-conscious, services-led approach, using their technology skills and market understanding to create and drive new propositions in the channel."

According to Norman 'distribution has stepped up a gear' to meet these challenges, and the IT industry and its components should respond to this and take advantage of what is now on offer.

"The scale and speed of this move is clearly visible in the additional offerings being made by the distributors, but not all channels and vendors are fully aware of the "New Distribution" models that are emerging," he added.

In response to increased demand for newer technologies such as cloud, IoT, mobile, and Big Data, distributors are investing heavily in new programmes and processes to efficiently bring those technologies to market, pointed out GTDC CEO Tim Curran.

He believes that some HQ senior executives may not understand how the channel and distributors can play a role in cloud for example, although those downstream, the channel leaders, typically do understand the deeper value and potential of these relationships.

"They work directly with distributors and see first-hand how partners strongly prefer their services. We want to help the upper senior management realise and support related advances," said Curran. "Europe's distributors are resilient, diversified and innovating, and the IT industry's partners of choice."

GTDC members drive more than $130bn in annual worldwide sales of products, services and solutions through business channels.

Although distributor Nimans has moved by leaps and bounds from its traditional roots as a 'box shifter'  MD and Chairman Julian Niman could not resist supplying staff with traditional boxes of chocolates to celebrate Valentine's Day. "You could say it was a 'love-ly' surprise and a really nice gesture," said Head of HR and Training Melanie Williamson.

Visual collaboration specialist Oblong Industries is continuing its expansion in Europe with the opening of an office in Munich next month, to serve the Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH) markets.

New regional sales director Thomas Spiegl will lead the team in Munich. This will be Oblong's third office in Europe and fifteenth globally. From 2010, Spiegl worked at LifeSize, formerly a division of Logitech, and was most recently regional director for DACH and director for EMEA channels.

Spiegl said: "With our Mezzanine offering we provide an immersive and visual technology for collaborating with both geographically dispersed and mobile users. Mezzanine re-defines meetings and delivers Infopresence to accelerate decision-making and improve business collaboration."

Steve Smith, sales director EMEA, Oblong Europe, said: "With Thomas' expertise we can tap into the great potential that the region offers and continue to grow the business throughout Europe."

Last year, Oblong hired former Cisco and Polycom man Steve Pryor as director for EMEA channel sales, to develop the company's partner programme and be responsible for partner relationships. Founded in the US in 2006, Oblong Industries customers include Boeing, GE, Fujitsu and IBM.

Distributor Esprinet's consolidated results as at 31 December 2016 show consolidated sales: €3.046bn is up +13% vs €2.694bn last year. Gross profit €164.2m is up +5%, Q4 was good: consolidated sales: €1.12bn (+26% vs € 888.5 million of fourth quarter 2015). Some of this growth is attributed to acquistions - EDSlan and Mosaico in the year.

Despite fears related to Brexit, United Kingdom registered the most significant growth rate (+ 8.7%), with a second half (+ 11.7%) sequentially better than the first. Germany showed instead an opposite trend, going into negative territory in the second half and closing the year with a -0.6%. France improved in the second half, but not enough to turn positive, marking a -1.2% for the full year.

Italy underperformed the market, closing the year at + 0.9% mainly thanks to the performance registered in the second half. Spain on the other hand registered a + 1.2% due to a particularly negative fourth quarter (-4.7%).

The performance by product category shows a growth in notebook (+ 6%), monitor (+ 18%) and consumables (+ 6%) segments. Tablet and desktop are instead negative, respectively with -13% and -5%. Smartphones registered a lower result than expected mainly due to non-recurring events that penalized one of the leading international brands, it says. Huawei and HP excelled among the best performing brands, while Apple and Microsoft ranked among the worst.

Esprinet says it closed 2016 still in first place in the local distributors rank, with a share of 31.5% - slightly decreasing (-0.9%) - without taking into account the contribution of the newly acquired EDSlan and Itway VAD.

In Spain, the best performing categories were mobile phones and the notebook, while processors (-27%), desktop (-6%) and toner (-9%) contained the overall trend of the sector. Among the best brands are reported Huawei followed by Asus, while Toshiba and Acer delivered the worst results. The market share of Esprinet Iberica increase to 17.9% (+ 0.9%); considering the contribution of the acquired assets of Vinzeo the group in Spain was in the first place in the national ranking, according to management estimates.

ITSPA has welcomed the launch of GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre, opened today by The Queen, and called on the organisation to help combat telephony fraud and protect both businesses and consumers.

Eli Katz, Chair of ITSPA, said: "ITSPA was pleased to see the National Cyber Security Centre launch today. We welcome Government's continued efforts to protect national infrastructure from cyber security threats and the continued focus that is being placed on this issue, and we look forward to working with the new Centre.

"Our members feel that Government, law enforcement and industry need to be more joined up to help combat telephony fraud, which remains a significant problem and is estimated to add 2% to the average user's phone bill.

"Telephony fraud is in some ways the UK's forgotten crime. Due to the difficulties in bringing forward successful prosecutions due to the highly international element of crime, it often goes unreported by the telecommunications industry, resulting in law enforcement and Government devoting a disproportionately low level of resource to the area. ITSPA continues to work to encourage industry to report instances of telephony fraud to ensure that the crime receives the attention it deserves."

In recent months, ITSPA has developed a Cyber Crime Task Force to help form positive relations with the relevant organisations involved in the fight against telephony fraud, including a number of Government Departments, the regulator and law enforcement. It will be engaging with the National Cyber Security Centre as part of this continuing this work.

Katz added: "The recent formation of the ITSPA Cyber Crime Task Force has concentrated our efforts in highlighting the level of telephony fraud experienced by UK operators to policymakers. We look forward to developing these conversations further in the coming months and I hope to engage in a positive dialogue with the new Centre to see how they can assist with ensuring this specific crime is combated effectively."

Westcoast has has expanded its mobility business following an agreement with ruggedised mobile device vendor M3 Mobile.

The Korean-based firm's product portfolio includes durable smartphones and PDAs aimed at enterprise customers, particularly in logistics, retail and field services.

Darren Seward, Head of Mobility at Westcoast, said: "This is a great opportunity to increase our foothold in the enterprise mobility market."

M3 Mobile manufactures all its products at its own factory in South Korea.

It's end customers include DHL whose 15,000 field employees use M3 smartphones and PDAs on a global basis. Other large customers include Domino's, BP, Vision Express and Jaguar Land Rover.

Oracle has expanded its Startup Cloud Accelerator programme by opening new centres in Bristol, UK; Delhi; Mumbai; Paris; São Paulo; Singapore and Tel Aviv.

The announcement comes soon after the business software giant revealed it was expanding its cloud data centre infrastructure in Europe.

Run by members of the Oracle research and development team, the accelerator programme provides six months of mentoring from technical and business experts, a co-working space, access to Oracle customers, partners and investors, and free Oracle Cloud credits.

"After a successful launch in Bangalore we're committed to building a supportive ecosystem for startups across the globe," said Thomas Kurian, Oracle president of product development.

"Cloud is enabling incredible innovations across every aspect of business and across every industry. We want to support this next technology revolution powered by cloud."

The Oracle Startup Cloud Accelerator is open to early-stage technology and technology-enabled startups. The call for applications will open later in 2017 in each of the seven new hubs.

Oracle says it currently delivers more than 50 integrated cloud services to support companies of all sizes. To support cloud product delivery growth, Oracle last month announced plans to bring three new data centres in London online, and further data centre openings were unveiled for Virginia, US and Turkey.

The new data centres are expected to come online by mid-2017, and other data centre openings have been promised for mid-2018.

RingCentral is aiming to become a $1bn business by the end of 2020, with revenues driven by mid-market and larger customers and channels switching customers to cloud.

In the short term, however, shares dipped 9% following Q4 earnings where it beat expectations on top and bottom lines, but provided earnings-call profit guidance on the light side for the upcoming quarter. Overall revenue was up 25.2% and software subscriptions (the bulk of revenue) rose 28% to $98m.

Annualised recurring software subscriptions grew 31% to $414.4m; of that, ARR for RingCentral Office grew 38%, to $341.5m. Gross margin on software subscriptions rose to 81.2% on a non-GAAP basis.

"The fourth quarter was a strong finish to a great year driven by our success with mid-market and enterprise customers," said Vlad Shmunis, RingCentral's Chairman and CEO.

"Additionally, the reseller channels are now increasingly switching their focus to cloud solutions and it has enabled us to scale our mid-market and enterprise go-to-market efforts rapidly."

The company guided to software revenue of $102m-$103m for Q1 (28-29% growth) and total revenue of $109.5m-$111.5m, above consensus for $106.7m. For the full year, it's forecasting software revenue of $447m-$454m (26-28% growth) and total revenue of $484m-$492m, above consensus for $468m.