INDUSTRY NEWS COMMENT: FCS UPDATE Michael Eagle
FCS is continuing to work closely with Openreach to ensure that progress towards normal service levels for both WLR provision and repair is maintained. Openreach is reporting continuing improvements in headline performance but FCS members are still experiencing mixed levels of service in some areas. As previously reported, FCS has agreed a series of detailed performance milestones which are being
reviewed with Openreach at monthly meetings. Openreach has stated that provision lead times have been reduced by 50 per cent since February with continuing reductions in the repair workstack. There is evidence, however, of a significant tail of jobs falling outside these service levels. FCS members present at the most recent Fixed Service
Providers meeting agreed that experience is improving but at a recent FCS regional meeting in Coventry it was reported that there are still unacceptable delays in some areas. FCS will continue to canvass its members for feedback to validate Openreach’s claimed levels of performance and work with Openreach to ensure that there is consistency of delivery across the country. In parallel, FCS has been representing the views of its members in industry discussions to review the current contractual regime for Service Level Guarantees (SLGs) for new provides, specifically, to agree contractual lead times and at what point penalties should kick in where these lead times cannot be met. FCS has proposed that SLGs based on the following be implemented: For PSTN, a standard lead time of eight days with compensation payable if no appointment is available within 10 days. For ISDN2, a lead time of 11 days with penalties after 13 days and, for ISDN30, a 20 day lead time with compensation payable after 24 days.
Michael Eagle, FCS General Manager
IT reseller to drive growth
MANCHESTER-based IT sup- port firm JMC IT has marked its 30th anniversary of trading with an impressive set of year- end figures and the creation of 12 new jobs.
The creation of 12 new posi- tions represents an 11% expan- sion of the workforce.
JMC will employ more sup-
port staff, Microsoft Dynamics consultants, technology deliv- ery personnel and account man- agers bringing the total number of employees to 87.
The company has reported a rise in annual turnover to £8.8m on the back of 14% growth dur- ing the last year. The organisation was named
9th in The Sunday Times Top 100 Best Small Companies to
Work for List, and was awarded a third Michelin-style star by Best Companies in February. Andrew Burgess, MD of JMC, commented: “We are thrilled that everyone’s hard work has paid off with such positive financial results. “We are proud of the fact that this growth has coincided with our highest ever rates of client and employee satisfaction.” JMC’s 500 clients include
North West housing associa- tions Harvest Housing Group and Mosscare, online wedding brand Confetti and international travel group Travel Jigsaw. JMC IT in profile – page 28
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Conferencing sales up
GROWING demand for Poly- com’s SoundStation 2 led to a surge in conferencing sales at Nimans, supported by strong general sales of Konftel audio conferencing equipment. Demand for conferencing kit rose by 37% in early spring, said the distributor, which has ramped up its videoconferenc- ing proposition with the appoint-
ment of a dedicated business manager, Annabelle Wellon. “We’ve just recorded our best ever monthly sales per- formance,” said Head of Con- ferencing Sales, Ian Brindle. “We expect the momentum to continue throughout the year as businesses take advantage of the many benefits that confer- encing provides.”
SHORT CALLS
Due to high demand from resellers Nimans has extended its 0% finance offer until the end of June on Panasonic, Siemens and Samsung sales.
BT Wholesale is aiming to extend the availability of next generation copper broadband by enabling exchanges serving around 80% of UK homes and businesses by the end of 2011.
ScanSource Europe has added Motorola wireless networking products to its line card in its comms division in Germany and in the UK.
Cisco’s WebEx solution is now available for delivery by the channel via Azlan. The Cisco WebEx Meeting Center enables users to share applications, presentations, documents, or a PC desktop in real-time and work with colleagues remotely.
Alcatel-Lucent has introduced its new data centre switching solution blueprint for enterprises that extends the boundaries of the data centre through virtualisation of the network with a ‘mesh’ architecture design.
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10 COMMS DEALER MAY 2011
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