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businessupdate News…


Newport based housing group Seren has appointed two senior professionals to further strengthen its ability to deliver high quality housing and support. Ruth Marks, formerly


Wales’ first Older People’s Commissioner has joined the group, one of the largest housing and support providers in south east Wales, as its first director of older people’s services and Neil Ingham has been appointed marketing and communications director. Ruth will lead the development of both current and new older person’s services across the group, identifying and meeting the varied needs of older people and ensuring consistently


high quality services. She bringsawealth of


experience from the public, charitable and not-for-profit sectors. She said: “Iamlooking


forward to meeting older people who use our services and others who may be interested in care and support provided by reach in the future. It is only by listening carefully to older people and their carers that we can provide the best quality care suited to their needs.” Neil brings more than 10


years experience of delivering highly effective communications as well as substantial media policy and public relations experience to the newly created role.


Catherine Jones hopes her new position as alegal assistant in the Newport office of Howells Solicitors will be the first step of her ambition to be the latest in a long line of solicitors. Her mother, Claire


Davis, is asolicitor with Howells in Newport and the ‘legal’ line dates back to her great grandfather, John (Jack) Davis who qualified in 1919 and formed Newport law firm Le Brasseur Davis & Sons.


Gilbert Davis, her grandfather, was in


practice for almost 50 years as was her great uncle Tom Davis. Both were well respected solicitors and presidents of the Monmouthshire Law Society during their careers. Claire Davis, Catherine’s mother is a


Partner and Head of Wills and Probate at Howells Solicitors in Newport.


in association with


Tuesday March 5, 2013 Twojoin thegroup Catherine isnextin line Claire said: “I certainly


knew that when accepting articles in 1985, being a solicitor actually meant hard work, long hours, great responsibility and sadly not unlimited time to lunch and play! It has all been huge fun though, and Ihave had the good fortune to work for and with some great people helping to propose innovative solutions to a range of personal circumstances. Istill look


after families who used the services of my father and grandfather for years and many of them are now the children or even grandchildren of those clients. Catherine said: “I first became aware


of the legal profession at avery young age. The law was hard to avoid! Ihope to qualify and live up to the Davis name and have acareer as well regarded as the generations that have gone before me.”


Partnership will help IT companygrowfurther O


ne of Wales’ fastest growing IT consultancies, Newport-based Certus IT, has announced anew partnership with communications experts Virgin Media Business.


Certus IT has linked up with Virgin Media


Business through its Partner Programme, which aims to maximise opportunities for businesses to grow by providing them with the technical and practical support they need to tap into the expanding business data market. As part of the partnership deal, Certus will be


able to use Virgin Media Business’s fibre optic network to offer clients asuper-fast connection to their servers at the Certus Data Centre. It will also be able to access sales and marketing support designed to help both businesses grow. Nigel Griffiths, commercial director at Certus


IT, said: “We are delighted to become partners with Virgin Media Business and to be able to offer our clients the benefits of their enhanced connectivity and super fast fibre optic network to access our data centre. “We launched the data centre in 2011 to


meet the increasing demand for cloud computing services. This now accounts for 20 per cent of our business and is continuing to grow, so it is essential that we have the right infrastructure in place and give clients achoice when it comes to accessing their data.” Jason King, head of business partners at


Virgin Media, said: “Certus IT is afast growing business that is known within the industry for the high levels of service it provides to its clients. “We are looking forward to working with


Certus closely in the coming years and Iamsure that we will both benefit greatly from this


Jason King and Nigel Griffiths


partnership.” Certus IT is also certified partner on Microsoft


Gold, Dell RA and Cisco Select programmes. Certus IT is one of the largest specialist IT consultancies in south Wales, supplying arange of IT services, including IT infrastructure design


and implementation, managed IT support services, private cloud infrastructure solutions, data centre services, and information back-up and disaster recovery systems. Customers include Millennium Stadium, Julian Hodge Bank, and Watts Gregory LLP.


Newport, a smart and connectedcity. www.newportsmartandconnectedcity.co.uk


One Gold Tops Newport NP20 4PG


T: 01633 844141 W: www.newportunlimited.co.uk/ In brief…


Finance link Henry Howard Finance plc, one of the largest independent asset finance houses and brokers in Wales, has set-up alink with finance group, Investec. The agreement has involved the


development of afully automated quoting and contract management system from ‘ccapps’, aleading provider of application software to the asset finance sector. Mark Crook, managing director of Newport-based Henry Howard, said: “We have worked closely with Investec for many years and as aresult of this development, we expect to process more deals and further strengthen our offering throughout the UK.”


Cloud solutions host Next Generation Data has been selected by global cloud-focused business software group UNIT4, to host the data the company stores on behalf of UK- based clients. The contract is part of UNIT4’s strategy to support global hosting capabilities with local onshore services that provide customers with faster compliance to regional data legislation. Anwen Robinson, Managing Director


of UNIT4 Business Software Ltd, said: “This deal will mean that in both the public and commercial sectors we can more easily meet local legislative and security standards. The selection ofNGD as the home for our cloud solutions underlines the quality of its centre, personnel and supporting infrastructure.” Nick Razey, NGD’s chief executive


officer, said: “UNIT4 has led from the front in the provision of business software in the cloud and we are delighted to be part of its continued leadership.NGD prides itself on offering highly secure, highly available infrastructure which is low cost and flexible –ideal for organisations with ambitious cloud strategies.”


Marathon man Clive Thomas of Newport and Pontypool-based Watkins&Gunn Solicitors has signed up to run this year’s Virgin London Marathon in April. The 45-year old Managing Partner


from Barry will run the 26 miles raising money for Wooden Spoon, arugby based charity which supports disadvantaged children in Wales and across the UK.


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