Comms Dealer

Microsoft HoloLens, the first self-contained holographic computer, is now available for preorder in Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, with devices starting to ship in late November.

Windows 10 will be updated in 2017 to include Windows Holographic, the platform that powers the mixed-reality experiences and bring the virtual and the physical worlds together. In June it was announced that Windows Holographic is coming to Windows 10 PCs and head-mounted displays to deliver new mixed-reality experiences.

Though Microsoft is primarily highlighting developers and commercial partners in the expansion, with the programme opened to any developer or business customer willing to pay $3000 for the device in the US and Canada back in August, a similar progression could now potentially be realised beyond North America with the news that it will be available in other areas.

"Since the launch of Microsoft HoloLens, we have seen passionate developers and world-class companies develop groundbreaking computing experiences only possible on HoloLens," said Alex Kipman, technical fellow, Microsoft Windows and Devices Group.

"When we set out to pioneer the mixed-reality category, we knew that many of the best innovations would be discovered when others got their hands on the technology. It has been quite inspiring to see what our partners have built and what individual developers have created. Together, we have only scratched the surface for what mixed reality can do. I can't wait to see what happens next as we welcome these new countries to our holographic landscape."

According to IDC, 'worldwide revenues for the augmented reality and virtual reality market will grow from $5.2 billion in 2016 to more than $162bn in 2020'.

The development opportunity is significant, it says, as all holographic apps are Universal Windows apps, and all Universal Windows apps can be made to run on the Windows Holographic platform.

This means the investments that developers of all shapes and sizes make today will take advantage of the growing ecosystem of Windows Holographic devices, says Microsoft.

Amazon Web Services has launched the AWS Europe (London) Region, joining existing regions in Ireland and Germany.

An AWS Region is a physical location in the world where AWS has multiple Availability Zones with one or more discrete data centres, each with redundant power, networking and connectivity, housed in separate facilities.

It says that over one hundred thousand UK-based customers already use existing AWS Regions and developers, startups, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and non-profit organisations, can leverage the AWS Cloud to run their applications and store their data on infrastructure in the UK

"Our customers and APN Partners asked us to build an AWS Region in the UK so they can run their mission-critical workloads and store sensitive data on AWS infrastructure locally," said Andy Jassy, CEO, AWS.

In the data centre, lab trials for software defined networking (SDN) are still dominant over production trials and live deployments, claims Cliff Grossner, senior research director and advisor, cloud and data centre research practice, IHS Markit

Service provider bare metal switching deployments have stalled, but more bare metal switches are in-use for SDN, even as Cisco and Juniper were named as the SDN vendors by respondent service providers, he says. The number of respondents in production trials and live deployment in 2016 continued to be lower than expected by those taking part in the prior year's study.

Getting to live production is taking more time than expected. This means that the most innovation-driven part of the market critical for new revenue-SDN controllers, data centre orchestration and SDN applications-is still wide open. Although the leaders in the SDN service provider data centre market are becoming clearer, especially for physical network equipment, we do not expect the market to solidify until live deployments ramp.

By 2018, bare metal Ethernet switch ports in the data centre are expected to reach 41% among operators surveyed.

VMware has pulled in Alanzo Blackstock from Cisco as Director, Partner Organisation for UK and Ireland. Blackstock will be responsible for driving strategic alliances and managing VMware's partner ecosystem.

"Alanzo has a demonstrable track record of building strong relationships with partners in the region," comments David Phull, vice president and general manager for UK&I, VMware.

Prior to his appointment, Blackstock was responsible for managing Cisco's largest partners in the UK, having worked at Cisco for over a decade.

ShoreTel's Q2 results show a lift in recurring revenue as a percentage of total revenue from 52% to 61%, reporting an annual recurring revenue run rate of $216m.

Hosted revenues of $36.7m in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 were up 20% year-over-year and 3% sequentially.

GAAP hosted gross margin for the second quarter of fiscal year 2017 was 51.8%, compared with 53.7% in the second quarter of fiscal year 2016.

Non-GAAP hosted gross margin was 55.0% in the second quarter of fiscal 2017, compared with 57.3% in the second quarter of fiscal 2016.

The total number of installed customer seats increased 26% over the second quarter of fiscal 2016 to approximately 259,000. Hosted revenue churn was 4.6% annualized in the second quarter of fiscal 2017.

As the strategic shift in revenue mix towards hosted revenue continued, second quarter of fiscal 2017 total revenue was $88m, compared to $90.4m in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 and $86.3m in the prior quarter. GAAP net loss was $2.9 million.

"Hosted revenues continue to represent the largest percentage of total revenues and product revenues were sequentially up," said Don Joos, president and CEO of ShoreTel.

"The cost actions taken earlier this fiscal year drove sequentially improved financial results and cash flow from operations. We remain focused on product innovation as we introduced a number of technology advancements including video collaboration for Connect CLOUD, the expansion of multi-tenanted Connect CLOUD in the UK and our new Teamwork application, a team collaboration tool which leverages the ShoreTel Summit technology stack."

Unify has reaffirmed its commitment to scale up the proportion of business it does through the channel to 70%, and has confirmed that the addition of 50 new UK partners last year has propelled it closer towards realising this ambition.

Barry Tuffs, Vice President for UK and Ireland Channels, has pledged to accelerate the gathering momentum during the coming year, promising potential partners a full portfolio of hybrid communications and an opportunity to join Unify's technical PreSales and Consultant Community group, an information resource known as TechConnect.

Tuffs stated: "TechConnect enables partners to engage in technical dialogue, view product feature and functionality roadmaps, share common approaches and gain direct access to Subject Matter Experts."

He also confirmed that Unify will increase its emphasis on delivering flexibility to partners via a portfolio of on-premise, cloud and hybrid solutions spanning TDM and IP technologies, backed up by a revamped approach to doing business through the channel that, for example, segments the market and provides specialised vertical-specific support.

"We've overhauled the Unify Partner Program to ensure that partners receive high-touch expert advice on specific vertical sectors, as well as marketing and implementation support," added Tuffs.

The purpose of Unify's technology is to transform how enterprise and mid-market companies communicate and collaborate, an objective that was advanced by leaps and bounds when the vendor was acquired by Atos in January last year. The combined entity soon began to leverage Unify's UC expertise in tandem with Atos' dexterity in the IT services space.

"Backed by Atos we are also continually investing in our product portfolio, which includes innovations such as Circuit and OpenScape, enhancing these solutions for partners and mid-market organisations," added Tuffs.

Having articulated Unify's coherent channel strategy, Tuffs talked-up the role of the cloud in Unify's thinking and highlighted the vendor's integrated proposition for unified communications, mobility and real-time comms.

"With cloud at the centre of our product portfolio we will continue to deliver a UCaaS experience that brings together multiple voice, video and data networks, connected devices and applications into one platform, allowing teams to collaborate securely anytime, anywhere," said Tuffs.

Also driving Unify's UK channel campaign is David Lindley, Head of Sales UK&I, who is at the vanguard of 'transforming Unify's sales teams'.

"We are moving away from a direct sales model and focusing our attention on a Channel Centric High Touch approach," he added. "This emphasis on channel-centricity will ensure that Unify and our partners continue to gain market share."

Gamma has pledged to take its marketing support for partners to 'the next level' with the introduction of two new initiatives.

The first, Accelerate, is a self-serve online marketing portal available to all partners.

It includes an asset library that enables users to leverage tools that customise campaign material and product collateral.

In the lead up to Accelerate's launch Gamma also expanded its white label marketing offering to include an end-to-end campaign-in-a-box model.

Gamma's Platinum Partner Programme, launched in 2015, now includes a Gold level, giving partners access to a Partner Programme Manager who will support lead generation activities including managed lead nurture campaigns.

Gold partners also get funding for marketing, enhanced training and support, and access to multi-tactic marketing automation features.

The company said it will deliver managed marketing campaigns to Platinum and Gold Partners using the Accelerate platform; while Accelerate's content syndication module will be available exclusively to Platinum Partners.

Gamma's Head of Marketing Justin Coombes commented: "These new initiatives enable us to take the marketing support we offer to our channel partners to the next level.

"All of our partners can easily brand marketing material on a self-serve basis within the portal. The premium features, such as content syndication and automated lead nurture, add value to the Platinum and new Gold proposition, providing an opportunity to boost lead generation and increase sales."

Channel Telecom MD Clifford Norton has joined forces with former colleague Danny Woods to launch Channel Utilities, a provider of bespoke gas, electricity, water and waste management solutions exclusively through the channel.

Norton and Woods first met at Cable Telecom where Norton, then Sales Director, mentored Woods who went on to set up ADK Communications with two other colleagues.

The company was sold when Woods joined the Fidelity Group before founding Woods Communications in 2013 which also sold energy solutions.

"Small customers could potentially be large energy consumers," commented Woods.

"For example, ovens in bakeries use a lot of energy, but bakeries may just have one phone line. Channel Utilities provides cost-effective utility solutions for all customer types."

The UK Government has called on the telecoms industry to help it spend 33% of all public sector money with SMEs by 2020. A group of industry leaders are collaborating with the Cabinet Office and the Crown Commercial Service to help comms providers address public sector opportunities.

Their target is to have a third of all public sector money spent with small and medium sized businesses by 2020.

This amounts to circa £2-3bn per annum across all sectors including health, transport, education, defence, central and local Government.

Adept CEO Ian Fishwick (pictured) is leading the group having been selected as the telecoms industry representative on the Cabinet Office SME Panel.

He is also Commercial Director at Innopsis, the not-for-profit trade body charged with helping businesses secure Government contracts across all public sector fields.

Comms Dealer is supporting the initiative and is co-sponsoring the 'Go Public Sector!' thought leadership event which will take place at the Institute of Directors in London on February 28th.

"If you have ever found it difficult to sell to the public sector then this is your chance to explain why to the Cabinet Office," said Fishwick.

"We need to understand the changes required to make it easier to do business. There will be a chance for everyone in the audience to air their views."

By 2020, the Government plans to spend one third of its goods and services budget with SMEs and as Tony Brown, Category Lead for the Crown Commercial Service explained, the Government doors are truly open for business.

"We're responsible for managing the procurement of common goods and services, so public sector organisations with similar needs achieve value by buying as a single customer," he said.

"Our commercial agreements are developed in consultation with our customers and suppliers to deliver a competitive and diverse market place.

"Currently, we are involved in a campaign declaring that Government is 'Open for Business' and we want to work with more small businesses across the UK.

"The 'Open for Business' campaign will demonstrate how becoming a Government supplier is a great way to make a difference to your business. Companies report an increase in turnover, higher profits and an expansion of their workforce."

More and more SMEs within the technology sector are said to be doing business with Government. Technology Products 2, G-Cloud 8 and Networks Services are the latest CCS frameworks with successful SME participation at 54%, 87% and 25% respectively.

"We are making it easier to become a Government supplier and we want to hear from you in order to improve the process, to enable you to bid for and win Government contracts," commented Brown.

For more information and to register for a place at the 'Go Public Sector' seminar go to gov.uk/openforbusiness

Blueface's hosted voice platform, Blueface UC, has received a 2017 Internet Telephony Product of the Year award from TMC.

The platform was released in November 2016 and provides unified communications and hosted voice services for organisations of all sizes. The platform was developed in house by the cloud communications company which invested over 100,000 hours of research and development in bringing the service to market.

Alan Foy, Blueface Group CEO, said: "We are committed to innovation and we have many more exciting product releases on our technology roadmap in 2017. Watch this space."