Comms Dealer

Voip Unlimited has marked its 11th year in business with a brand revamp and the promise of new products and full automation for channel partners.

The company was founded on Valentine's Day 2006 and according to MD Mark Pillow the firm's 'passion for VoIP' remains hot.

He said: "From the outset we have focused solely on our technical capabilities, network, infrastructure and innovating new products for our channel and customers.

"Following 11 years of building this reputation we realised it was time for our image to catch up with a new look and improved online functionalities that came hand in hand with the rebranding process, including our portal and website. This year is going to be transitional as we expand."

Cyber security company F-Secure has released a new report that explores the trends and threats defining the current state of cyber security across the globe, and paints a stark picture of the threats posed by insecure networks and devices, the IoT, cyber crime and more.

F-Secure's State of Cyber Security 2017 report pays particular attention to security issues facing companies as the threat landscape transitions away from conventional malware to more dynamic threats.

"Today's threats can outsmart old one-dimensional security approaches, regardless of how strong everyone thinks they are," said F-Secure security advisor Sean Sullivan. "Phishing, lists of pre-compromised accounts and networks sold online, and other resources make breaching a government organisation or Fortune 500 company within reach of a lot of different attackers.

"We're in a post-malware world because the threat landscape has industrialised and cyber criminals aren't only relying on the most common types of malware to make money."

The report provides data and insights on the key issues cyber security researchers and experts see dominating the threat landscape. Some key findings from the report include:

• A majority of active reconnaissance traffic in 2016 came from IP addresses in just 10 countries, with Russia, the Netherlands, the United States, China, and Germany being hotspots for these activities
• Outdated versions of Android continue to expose mobile devices to risks, with Indonesia having the largest proportion of outdated Android devices in use, while Norway has the smallest
• Most cyber attacks are performed with basic, scriptable techniques against poorly maintained infrastructure
• 197 new ransomware families were discovered in 2016 compared with just 44 in 2015
• Exploit kit usage declined during 2016

The report also contains features on notable events and trends from 2016, including information on Mirai-based botnets, upstream attacks, cyber crime and general IT trends that are shaping the threat landscape.

According to F-Secure security expert Andy Patel, the report was written to send a message to defenders about the importance of risk management. "Commodity malware, like ransomware, is still prevalent," he stated. "And endpoint protection is great at protecting users from those threats. But defenders need to think about threat assessment, penetration testing, breach detection, incident response and crisis management if they want cyber security plans they can count on when attackers wise up to their defences."

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.