INDUSTRY NEWS
Total sets focus on joined up strategy
THE Churchill War Rooms in London’s Whitehall was a fit- ting venue for Total’s inaugu- ral event for reseller partners offering mobile, voice and data solutions to their own custom- er bases via O2’s Joined Up Communications Channel Par- tner Programme. In the underground envi- ronment where Sir Winston Churchill strategically planned and directed the defence of the realm in the Second World War, Total gave the audience of resell- ers and aggregators the inspira- tion, knowledge and ‘weaponry’ to meet the demands of SME customers seeking to bring new integrated communications sol- ution into their businesses. Total was one of the first channel businesses named as a wholesale partner of O2 last summer. This has enabled Total to offer wholesale mobile bill- ing alongside its channel sup- port service, giving reseller partners an opportunity to effec- tively replace dwindling fixed line revenues.
In his welcome speech,
Total’s Sales Director Paul Giacalone stressed: “Mobile is important to your business not only because of the ongoing decline in fixed traffic revenues
Aastra unveils media phone
AASTRA has lifted the lid on its new BluStar 8000i desktop media phone which blends HD videoconferencing with UC and business applications into a col- laboration device. The Aastra BluStar 8000i also provides a range of built-in business productivity applica- tions that can run at the same time as the live video.
The product integrates with David Plumb
but more importantly because you need to offer joined up ser- vices to your customers. “The growth in smartphone penetration has risen by 73% in the last year alone.” The event also gave Total the chance to introduce O2’s broad- band company BE Wholesale to its partners which will enable them to offer high definition broadband services. BE Wholesale’s Managing
Director, Chris Stening, com- mented: “The BE network offers 100% UK coverage and adds value for customers by focusing on upload speed, qual- ity, latency and reliability, open-
ing the door for VoIP and mar- gin rich media applications.” David Plumb, now General Manager for Enterprise at O2, who masterminded the launch of the JUCC programme, stressed the importance of partners like Total in delivering flexible working and cloud-based solu- tions into to the SME sector via its channel partners.
He commented: “It is not possible to deliver on any of these trends without intelligent- ly packaged mobility.
“The strong, long-term, trust- ing relationship between O2 and Total makes this a reality for small business customers.”
Aastra’s UC applications as well as built-in applications from third parties. “Videoconferencing is bec- oming more important in the enterprise environment,” stated Simon Beebe, Vice President of Product Line Management. “With the audio and visual quality of the Aastra BluStar 8000i, it really is like having the person or people you are com- municating with in the same room. That offers powerful ben- efits in terms of improved col- laboration,” he added.
The BluStar desktop media phone can be deployed on Aastra call managers as a SIP endpoint incorporating all call manager features, as well as two or three- way videoconferencing. Alternatively, the BluStar 8000i media phones and BluStar Application Server can operate
as a standalone product or can be used to complement an exist- ing Aastra ViPr videoconferenc- ing system.
Dominic Dodd, Principal Analyst at Frost & Sullivan, observed: “BluStar is a great example of how Aastra is suc- cessfully leveraging the tech- nologies it gains through acqui- sition and developing these further to meet the demand for desktop-based video collabora- tion, which is growing at over 17% annually. “With BluStar, Aastra has built on the ViPr platform to create a product that offers a fully integrated collaboration capability, combining voice, video and real-timing sharing of information in a single package designed within a familiar user experience,” added Dodd.
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Contact your Authorised Distributor or Jabra Account Manager for more information or call 01784 220140. Visit
www.jabra.co.uk/headstart
6 COMMS DEALER MARCH 2011
* £20 trade-in off Retail Selling Price
www.comms-dealer.com
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