Comms Dealer

Exclusive Group has pocketed Netherlands based VAD TechAccess, growing its combined Benelux operation to over 150 staff.

The acquisition adds Fortinet distribution into the Netherlands, extending a relationship that spreads across all of EMEA and APAC.

Other shared synergies include Arista, Infoblox, Gemalto and Brocade.

Olivier Breittmayer, CEO of Exclusive Group, said: "We identified TechAccess as a strong candidate to boost our Benelux market presence and to provide the catalyst for further growth in the region."

Berry van Waayenburg, co-founder and CEO of TechAccess who now becomes Exclusive Networks Netherlands' Country Manager, commented: "Our combined strength increases our relevance to vendors and partners, providing enlarged market access and greater resources to execute services."

Fundamental billing mistakes have cost EE £2.7m following a fine levied by watchdog Ofcom which says almost 40,000 customers were overcharged a total of around £250k. The penalty is the result of an investigation into the mobile phone provider, opened on 29th January 2016, which found that the company broke a fundamental billing rule on two occasions.

EE customers who called the company's 150 customer services number while roaming within the EU were charged as if they had called the United States, £1.20 per minute instead of 19p.

Ofcom also found that EE's 'carelessness or negligence' contributed to these billing errors.

EE had decided not to reimburse the majority of affected customers until Ofcom intervened.

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom's Consumer Group Director, said: "EE didn't take enough care to ensure that its customers were billed accurately. This ended up costing customers thousands of pounds which is completely unacceptable.

"We monitor how phone companies bill their customers and will not tolerate careless mistakes. Any company that breaks Ofcom's rules should expect similar consequences."

The fine must be paid to Ofcom within 20 working days and will be passed on to HM Treasury.

Daisy Group has ploughed £3.5m into a hardware upgrade that is being rolled out to its business continuity customers.

The investment will equip its 13 nationwide work area recovery sites with 6,000 desktop computers from Hewlett Packard (the EliteDesk 800 G2 mini Business PC and i7-6700 Skylake Chipset).

Daisy's Head of Business Continuity Operations Les Price said: "The level and quality of service that we are able to provide to our customers in their time of need is of upmost importance to us.

"It is key for us to offer our customers a standard, uniform and reliable experience, regardless of where they or their staff may be based throughout the UK.

"This is a major investment initiative which demonstrates to our customers a commitment to the continual enhancement of what we do and how we do it."

Retaining the services of top techies will be a big challenge for organisations this year, reckons research by employment standards agency Investors in People which indicates that 75% of IT professionals could switch jobs in 2017.

Figures also suggest that confidence in the tech job marketplace is already up 6% on last year, with the main prompts to jumping ship being the need for a new challenge and better pay, while 36% cited a lack of career progression within their current role as a reason for moving.
 
"To avoid losing valued employees, organisations should foster a culture of innovation that enables employees to channel their aspirations," stated Peter Groucutt, MD of disaster recovery service provider Databarrack.
 
"Some larger organisations have looked to address this through a formalised process, such as Google's Area 120, a start-up incubator that allows employees to work on personal projects full-time.

"But initiatives like this often only take place in large enterprises where there is sufficient funding and support. What we need to see is more SMEs embracing this incubator culture."
 
Groucutt explained that Databarracks encourages its staff to develop products and solutions. Successful initiatives can even be spun out into new businesses, like Kazoup, a solution for analysing unstructured file data which was founded and developed by Databarracks employees.
 
Kazoup was launched as a new business led by its heads of R&D and Business Development, with shares held in the business by senior members of the Databarracks team.

The company has applied this model to other areas of the business including its marketing operation which now operates independently and provides marketing services to other organisations as well as Databarracks.
 
"This approach provides employees with the freedom to develop new skills and ideas, giving them greater ownership over new projects," stated Groucutt.

"The purpose of an incubator culture is to ensure that you are able to retain your most skilled employees by enabling them to explore and develop new projects and ideas outside of their usual remit."

Aberdeen-based SureVoIP has pledged to pay for the primary school tuition of 50 Kenyan children in support of Gathimba Edwards Foundation (GEF), its charity of the year for 2017.

GEF helps disadvantaged children living in Kenya such as Eliud Mugoya (pictured) who received computer equipment from SureVoIP prior to starting a human resources management degree at college in Nairobi.

SureVoIP MD Gavin Henry said: "As a company we have a long-standing relationship with GEF and have seen the massive difference it has made to dozens of youngsters' lives in a relatively short period of time."

GEF was established in 2014 by Kenyan international athlete Gideon Gathimba and Scottish 1,500m champion Myles Edwards. It provides education, clothing and shelter for nearly 250 children and also helps their parents.

A two-year partnership between Teesside University and TeleWare underlines the growing role that educational institutions will play in shaping the future look of comms products and services.

This collaborative Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) aims to drive innovation and turn academic thinking into real world solutions. KTPs are part funded by Innovate UK.

Key focus areas are Big Data, machine learning and analytics, which will help Teleware to explore the best way to collect data from customer interactions - whether through traditional call centres, social media, web chats or other channels - and analyse it to enhance the customer experience.
 
Dr Teng Fu, an Artificial Intelligence specialist, will be based with TeleWare full-time, and the comms firm will gain access to research from Drs Yifeng Zeng and Claudio Angione who are based at the university's School of Computing.

Dr Geoff Archer, Head of Knowledge Exchange at Teesside University, said: "To maintain a technological advantage, businesses today must gain insight from a range of different sources including the latest academic thinking and theories.

"This will allow them to more fully understand the needs of their customers and their industry.

"Through working with TeleWare, we are able to give them the benefit of our knowledge to guide them in their development process. It's exciting for us to then see a practical application of our thinking."
 
"Machine learning is a large part of TeleWare's CX Analytics as the technology can learn best practices and then deliver those insights back into businesses," said Paul Millar, Chief Innovation Officer at TeleWare.

"We've always had a great relationship with Teesside University. Our CEO Steve Haworth is a Teesside graduate. The KTP is proving to be fruitful for us as we continue our journey into CX Analytics and enhancing the communication between businesses and their customers.

"Having this academic support to constantly improve our knowledge is paying real dividends in terms of how we develop our solutions."

Stirling is to become Scotland's fourth Gigabit City following a city-wide fibre roll out by CityFibre working in partnership with MLL Telecoms that kicks off in June.

The initial development phase is expected to take 14 months, delivering 20km of infrastructure spanning from Bannockburn to the Stirling Agricultural Centre. 
 
The copper-free ultra-fast network will connect over 30 Stirling Council sites including schools, libraries, offices and community facilities.

It will also provide a future-proof platform for further digital developments such as connecting mobile masts and enabling smart CCTV and street lighting.
 
The network will be extended over time to offer the majority of Stirling's 3,000 businesses access to gigabit speed services.
 
Stirling Council Leader Johanna Boyd stated: "This leap forward for our digital connectivity will make our existing businesses more competitive, encourage new businesses to the city centre and enable us to deliver education and skills programmes which not only ensure our students are the most digitally skilled in Scotland, but also provide people of all circumstances and skill levels with opportunities for employment. It will also allow those accessing council services to do so faster.
  
James McClafferty, CityFibre's Head of Regional Development in Scotland, added: "By providing unlimited bandwidth and true fibre connectivity, CityFibre's privately funded investment in Stirling will benefit all areas of the community.

"As the first organisation to be connected, Stirling Council will, for example, explore the e-learning potential offered by Gigabit connectivity in schools and libraries, while improving the use of digital and web-based tools and services for both staff and customers.
 
"What's more, as the project progresses we expect Stirling to benefit economically as the city becomes more competitive in terms of attracting new businesses, supporting growth among existing firms and creating jobs.

"We are already seeing this trend emerge in our Gigabit City projects across the UK and in others throughout the world."
 
Ross Duke, MLL Telecom's Technology Director, added: "The Gigabit City network will transform the way in which Stirling's communities, organisations and businesses can collaborate and work together. Our role will be to make sure this happens seamlessly and securely."
 
CityFibre is currently leading Gigabit City projects in 40 other cities across the UK including those already underway in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

A £5.4m staff recruitment investment by Wi-Fi company Purple has prompted a move to bigger premises that will house its expanding team of workers.

Purple expects to hire an additional 200 people worldwide, including 10 new staff members for its new Oldham HQ.

The company moved from Ashton-under-Lyne where it operated for four years, starting its commercial life with just six employees.

Purple now has on its books 20 million users worldwide with deployments in 73 countries and offices based in the US, Spain, Chile, Singapore and Australia.

Purple's Wi-Fi solution generates real-time analytics and marketing for venues and businesses by measuring the behaviour of visitors and turning physical spaces into intelligent ones.

Gavin Wheeldon, CEO, said: "Purple has experienced unbelievable growth over the last few years and our relocation to a bigger and better headquarters allows us to continue building momentum.

"The move not only offers staff a lot more space but marks a dynamic new chapter for Purple."

Richard Thomas has been appointed Channel Director at the Fidelity Group charged with powering new reseller partnerships and developing partner offerings and joined-up solutions for channel customers.

Thomas worked at Avaya Solutions in the early 2000s creating solutions that integrated with IT networks using IP and ISDN technology. He then took on a sales role for the biggest reseller in the south west area selling Alcatel and Toshiba products as well as IT networking and mobile solutions.

Thomas later became Sales Director for a cost reduction consultancy, franchising its business and growing turnover from £1 million to £4.2 million in three years. Most recently he worked for Focus Group restructuring its partner offerings, commercials, support mechanism and supply chain.

"I am excited to join the Fidelity Group team as Channel Director to bring my skills and see what we can create together in 2017 and beyond."

Nimans and Unify (the Atos brand for comms software and services) have ramped up their mid-market and upwards channel ambitions with the launch of a licensed-based pay-as-you-go proposition that scales up to 1,500 users and offers full OpenScape Business functionality to SMBs and enterprise level users.

The venture kicks off with a series of educational webinars that will explore deployment scenarios including on-premise server-based solutions and via a resellers' own hosted service provider. Other subject areas will focus on cost control and centralised web-based management.

"The new solution provides the best of both worlds and offers resellers an entry into cloud-based technologies," said Marcus Yates, Unify Solutions Business Manager at Nimans.