NEWS
the channel. It can look risky and complex, but it doesn’t need to be like that. Let me share some of the positive experiences our customers have had. There are two primary drivers for moving onto NGN-based services – a significant improvement in margins and rapid penetration of new markets. For example, business voice resellers have found they can expand margins by up to 30 per cent using a hosted IP centrex solution. Access costs are lower, they face little up-front outlay, they can avoid switch management costs by offering customers self-serve capabilities, and their customers enjoy seamless scalability.
The real opportunity is the deployment of new services, at minimal initial cost and on a national scale. NGNs bring more than just greater speed and reliability, they also offer flexible QoS levels for assured application quality and drive economies from putting multiple services on a single platform. So, the underlying network is crucial, as is the standard of service organisation.
Unified comms applications offer fantastic opportunities in the channel. They bring tangible value to the market, at low cost. BT Wholesale’s customers are finding their customers become dependent on these services which necessitates a stable, robust and resilient network to support them. The next big NGN-based opportunity for the channel will come with deeper fibre broadband deployment, already
COLIN’S BLOG T
he migration to NGN can be a scary business for many in
Colin Annette
available to over 1.8 million homes and businesses and being used in earnest by several service providers. Typically offering 40Mb/s downstream and 10Mb/s upstream, FTTC with QoS is a credible alternative to ISDN30 and a powerful NGN foundation for selling VoIP and Unified comms services.
There is clearly still a good living to be made from traditional voice and data services in the channel, and there will be for a few years yet. However, the writing is on the wall and many are hoping to steal a march by extracting early value in the NGN world. NGN- based services will radically alter the competitive landscape and render many current business models unsustainable. At the same time, the business end market is maturing rapidly in its requirements. These combined forces are driving a transformation in the channel that will see it through the next four to six years.
The migration to NGNs isn’t really that scary. Many have been doing it successfully and gaining an early competitive advantage. Crucially, the winds of change will blow all of us in this direction and the serious channel players in it for the long-term have already started to move. n
COLIN ANNETTE, DIRECTOR, BT WHOLESALE
Belden fi bre connectors bring fast fi ts
DISTRIBUTOR Nimans has for- med a partnership with manufac- turer Belden to offer a new range of ‘rapid fit’ fibre connectors. Nimans’ Installation Product
Specialist, Geoff Wilde, comment- ed: “These Belden products elimi- nate the need for lots of tools. “All an installer requires is a
precision cleave tool for quick and easy installation which saves a con- siderable amount of on-site time and associated costs.” Nimans is initially stocking four
product lines based on different sizes of fibre cables. Further vari- ants will be added in due course. Wilde added: “This new prod- uct may be small in size but it is destined to have a big impact out in the field, based on a simple design and implementation.”
www.comms-dealer.com
Landline calls on the move
ISP Gradwell has launched a new service that enables users to make and receive calls with their standard business landline number while on the move, meaning that there is no need for separate mobile and landline numbers. Based on a collaboration bet-
ween Three mobile and its MVNO enabler, aql, Gradwell Mobile has been designed to offer small busi- nesses greater flexibility in the way they communicate. Peter Gradwell, founder and
MD of Gradwell, said: “This is for business people who are on the move, ensuring they can be contacted quickly and efficiently, and avoiding the need to check both landline and mobile phone voicemail messages.
Peter Gradwell
“It’s also valuable to small busi- nesses and sole traders, meaning that those without a physical office can still benefit from the profes- sional image associated with use of a landline number rather than a mobile number.”
Boost for Dimension Data
GLOBAL IT solutions and services firm Dimension Data Holdings has acquired mvision, a UK video- conference integrator, network and managed video services provider, for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition is in line
with Dimension Data’s ambition to accelerate time to market in managed video, and increase pen- etration in the hosted UC solu-
tions and new generation video space. The purchase also enables Dimension Data to globalise its managed video services. Ton van Horssen, MD of
Dimension Data in the UK, said: “The acquisition bolsters Dimension Data’s ability to deliver a full suite of visual communica- tions solutions and complements our existing converged commu-
nications proposition in the UK. Both companies are services-led but believe in selling a full comple- ment of professional services, man- aged services and technology. “Our offerings are complemen-
tary and well aligned. The two cultures are highly compatible.” Van Horssen added that in time mvision will be integrated into Dimension Data.
Saharan trek aids children
KENT-based Rainbow Telecom has completed the first phase of a big recruitment drive with the addition of 10 new field base sales people, taking the number of fixed line and mobile sales team members to over 20. Dave Corgat, MD of Rainbow Telecom, said: “We have seen rapid growth in turnover and profit within the fixed line and mobile sales team. We are looking to expand our data and security divisions plus the traditional hardware/hosted sales team as we gear up for a sales drive despite the difficult market conditions, which has lead to great new challenges and fantastic new sales opportunities.”
PEACH Telecom’s Head of Marketing, John Cousins, is pre- paring for a 100km five-day trek across the Sahara Desert next March in aid of Wave 105 FMs Cash for Kids charity. Cousins said: “No child should go without their basic needs being met – food, clothes, education, health needs, guidance and support for their future – which is why I’m putting my body through the physical pain. I will be walking six hours a day in the gruelling heat. This will be a hard challenge but every step will be worth it.”
Got a news story? email:
sgilroy@bpl-business.com
Get ahead with UK wide flexible, scalable connectivity solutions. TotalE Connected™ from Kcom. Find out more, call 0800 915 5298 or visit
kcom.com/totale
18 COMMS DEALER OCTOBER 2010
www.comms-dealer.com
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