INDUSTRY NEWS COMMENT: THE O2 CORNER Maggie Kennedy
AS WE are now entering the New Year I thought I would take this opportunity to review 2011 and take stock of what we have achieved. At the start of last year our new JUC channel strategy kicked off and we announced that we had appointed 14 fixed line partners who had the ability to sell mobile minutes at a wholesale level. We also announced that we had appointed three aggregators that would act as distributors
to allow smaller partners to re-bill O2 minutes. As the year progressed we also appointed two more aggregators to increase the channel reach and offer more choice. In order to strengthen our wholesale proposition we announced that the Be Wholesale proposition would be included in our JUC offer, meaning that they can also include best of breed ADSL services on the same bill. All of these programmes have been built on the insight the channel has provided us – and for this we thank you. And all of the hard work that went into delivering these programmes was crowned by us receiving the ‘Mobile Network of the Year’ award at the CNA this year. You the channel voted for us as a result of the work we have done together to deliver the JUC strategy. This is testament to the strength of our collaboration efforts and this award means a lot. We are also seeing a lot of incremental business in channel that we would never had won without you. But we don’t want to rest on our laurels. And we need to make sure we stay ahead of the game. My only ask of you is that you continue to tell us what is working, what is not and what else you want from O2 in the New Year. If you continue to do this then I am confident of another great year for us all! Do drop me a line at
maggie.kennedy@
o2.com and share your views.
Maggie Kennedy, Head of Partners, O2
Integralis in Secode deal
INTEGRALIS has acquired Secode AB, a provider of managed security services, from parent company NTT Communications (NTT Com). With a strong presence in Sweden, Norway, Finland and The Netherlands, Secode AB is adept at offering managed security services, security con- sultancy and technology to commercial, government and military organisations.
The transaction sees NTT Com transfer its 88% sharehold- ing in Secode to Integralis giv- ing Integralis 100% ownership of Secode. In exchange NTT Com receives additional shares in Integralis taking its overall shareholder stake in Integralis to more than 78%.
Katsumi Nakata
Katsumi Nakata, Senior Vice President, Global Business, NTT Com commented: “We continue to invest heavily into the growth and expansion of Integralis worldwide.
“The transfer of Secode AB to Integralis will offer even greater opportunities for Integralis to provide pure-play information security solutions across a key region.”
Ingram joins the CIF
DISTRIBUTOR Ingram Micro (UK) has joined the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) as part of its wider strategy of launching a portfolio of solutions under the brand Ingram Micro Cloud. Matt Sanderson, UK MD at Ingram, said: “The CIF has been leading the charge for bet- ter practice and transparency in the cloud. An initiative such is
SHORT CALLS
NEC is offering big savings on call management for small businesses until 31st March. “NEC’s Andrew Cooper said: “We’re offering more than a third off the SL1100 KSU and SL MyCalls with Unlimited Licence. This will help resellers to clinch application deals.” NEC is also offering a 33% discount on MyCalls Call Manager to businesses that purchased an SV8100 telephone system before April of last year.
this is something we can sup- port and it also reflects our val- ues and commitment.”
Andy Burton, Chairman of the Cloud Industry Forum, added: “There is a clear oppor- tunity in the market for trusted Cloud Brokers, and I have no doubt that Ingram Micro will be an active participant in champi- oning cloud services.”
SHORT CALLS
ScanSource has built on its relationship in Europe with Polycom by incorporating the vendor’s KIRK wireless solution product range into its portfolio. The distributor entered into a distribution agreement with Polycom in October 2010 to carry the entire line of video and audio products in Germany, bringing one of ScanSource’s strongest partnerships in North America to Europe.
For the second time Plantronics has been named best supplier to the contact centre industry at the Irish Contact Centre & Shared Services Awards 2011. Paul Dunne, Head of Channel Sales, UK & Ireland, said: “Contact centre agents need the right tools to manage increasingly complex customer enquiries.”
Nimans has teamed-up with Siemens and Gamma to offer resellers an end-to- end bundle that provides a SIP trunk saving of up to 20% when resellers buy a Siemens OpenScape Office MX V3 platform. Head of System Sales, Paul Burn, said: “We have put together an all embracing package to encourage more resellers into the market.”
Siemens updates Vodafone boost
SIEMENS Enterprise Comm- unications has updated its OpenScape Office and the HiPath 3000 voice platform to include a new UC client for tablets, OpenScape Web Collaboration and a UC plug-in for Microsoft Outlook 2010. According to the vendor these solutions, intended for up to 500 users and 1,000 in a net- worked environment, improve business efficiency and mobility and help to reduce costs. Rob Keenan, Head of UK Portfolio Management,
Deployment Readiness Man- agement, stated: “Increased mobility and flexibility in con- sumer devices and the ‘bring your own device’ phenomenon have caused businesses to rethink their communications infrastructures to meet future business needs.
“Our enhancements to OpenScape Office such as the addition of web collaboration, increased mobility and support for virtualisation tackles this and reduces business costs and increases productivity.”
VODAFONE Global Enter- prise‚ the arm that deals with Vodafone’s largest multination- al customers, has bolstered its professional services with the acquisition of European IT and communications consultancy Bluefish Communications. Bluefish will form the nucle- us of a new Unified Comm- unications and Collaboration practice within
Vodafone
Global Enterprise that will, among other functions, advise large corporate customers on how new collaboration services,
Kcom’s Accelerate Channel Partner Programme now available 14 COMMS DEALER JANUARY 2012
such as video conferencing and presence awareness, can boost their business’ performance. Nick Jeffery, CEO of
Vodafone Global Enterprise, said: “Having the right infor- mation at the right time, in the right place, has never been more important to business success. ”
CORRECTION: In last month’s issue we stated that Lee Shorten had joined the board at Excell Group. This is not the case, although Shorten is working with Excell.
Register now:
channelpartners@kcom.com www.comms-dealer.com
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