News

Network Infrastructure Solutions and Services

November 11, 2010 11 Nov'10
Cisco margins hit by component shortfall

Cisco is still feeling the effects of bottle necks in the networking component supply chain, despite CFO Frank Calderoni noting a "substantial improvement in our supply" in Q1.
November 11, 2010 11 Nov'10
Global Services star performer for BT in Q2

BT has posted a slight decline in sales for its second quarter to the end of September, although both EBITDA and pre-tax profit showed improvement, up 3% and 13% respectively after a strong performance from problem child, BT Global Services.
November 11, 2010 11 Nov'10
Cisco questions strength of recovery as Q1 profits fall short

The stock markets have punished Cisco after the networking market leader missed forecast earnings targets by a country mile in the first quarter of its fiscal 2011.
November 10, 2010 10 Nov'10
Avaya acknowledges Nortel dealer discontent

Avaya has acknowledged the complaints of some of the Nortel enterprise partners absorbed into its channel during the course of 2010, and pledged to begin to monetise the Nortel lines in the coming months.

November 10, 2010 10 Nov'10
White box builders, smartphones behind mobile boom

The worldwide market for mobile phone sales has enjoyed another record quarter on the back of continuing adoption of smartphones sales of which soared 96%, and the growth of a new white box mobile sector in the developing world.
November 10, 2010 10 Nov'10
Accumuli acquires Tuscany Networks for £4m

Buy and build vehicle Accumuli has bid £4m for AIM listed Tuscany Networks in a reverse takeover and plans to raise cash through a share placement to fund two further acquisitions early next year.
November 10, 2010 10 Nov'10
Daisy snaps up acquisitive SpiriTel

Just as it promised its shareholders last month, acquisitive business communications provider Daisy Group has bought up rival SpiriTel for £27.5m, the largest acquisition it has made since embarking on a buy-and-build frenzy in 2009.
November 08, 2010 08 Nov'10
Avaya ramps up Connect partner programme

Avaya has rolled out a series of enhancements to its one year-old Connect partner programme at its annual conference, which this year is being held in Barcelona.
November 08, 2010 08 Nov'10
Avaya to chase down grey traders

Avaya has vowed to get more aggressive with grey marketing of its kit after a high-profile case that resulted in one UK trader being busted to the tune of $250,000.
November 08, 2010 08 Nov'10
Redstone acquires Fujin Systems

Redstone has acquired Ethernet and data centre services provider Fujin Systems for £400,000 but the price tag could rise to £2.9m depending on future earnings.

November 05, 2010 05 Nov'10
Nimans puts eggs in leasing basket

Nimans is to launch a series of training sessions for resellers designed to promote the concept of leasing arrangements to its dealer community.
November 04, 2010 04 Nov'10
Alcatel-Lucent sales, profits up on growing demand

Alcatel-Lucent has posted an unexpected net profit of €25m (£21.8m) for the third quarter ended 30 September after booking one-off gain related to its pension scheme.
November 04, 2010 04 Nov'10
Azlan launches Avaya channel lifeboat

Enterprise and networking distributor Azlan has launched a lifeboat programme for resellers affected by the expulsion of Nimans from Avaya's distribution line-up.
November 03, 2010 03 Nov'10
Redstone sells Irish reselling business to PFH

Redstone has offloaded its Irish reselling operation to PFH Technology group for £2.25m as it continues to re-shape the operation into a managed services provider.
November 03, 2010 03 Nov'10
Nimans cut from Avaya distribution team

Avaya has announced that it is ending its distribution agreement with Manchester-based comms and networking distie Nimans. The move to rationalise its distributor portfolio has been a long time coming, with senior UK sources within Avaya admitting ...
November 03, 2010 03 Nov'10
Gem gets D-Link consumer lines

D-Link has signed DCC's consumer distribution unit Gem to manage its growing consumer portfolio and drive more sales through retail channels.
November 02, 2010 02 Nov'10
Micro-P confirmed as new Cisco SMB distie

Micro-P has today confirmed it will be joining Cisco's distribution line-up to sell its SMB product lines, as revealed last Friday The distributor said its appointment would reinforce its recent move into the comms and mobility sector.
November 02, 2010 02 Nov'10
Extreme numbers up on service provider sales

Growth in sales through service provider partners in EMEA helped Extreme Networks reverse its year-ago losses during the first quarter of its fiscal 2011, the firm has said.
October 29, 2010 29 Oct'10
ShoreTel loss widens on stock compensation costs

Net losses at UC specialist ShoreTel widened year-on-year to $3.6m in the firm's fiscal Q1, after it incurred stock-based compensation expenses of $2.8m.
October 28, 2010 28 Oct'10
Internet worth £100bn to UK economy

The UK's online economy is generating £100bn a year, pulling in over 7% of the nation's GDP, dwarfing industries such as construction, transport and utilities, according to research conducted by the US-based Boston Consulting Group on behalf ...
October 28, 2010 28 Oct'10
Riverbed names channel sales VP

Network performance specialist Riverbed has promoted its service provider sales boss to vice president of worldwide channel sales as it seeks to up partner revenue opportunities.
October 27, 2010 27 Oct'10
F5 forecasts strong start to new fiscal year

Network equipment maker F5 Networks is the latest vendor to weigh in with quarterly numbers as the latest results season gets into full swing.
October 27, 2010 27 Oct'10
SMB sales shine for Netgear

A worldwide recovery in demand for networking kit among SMBs benefited Netgear during its fiscal Q3, which closed on 3 October, according to chairman and CEO Patrick Lo.
October 27, 2010 27 Oct'10
Brocade ditches reseller sales targets

Brocade is removing revenue requirements from its Alliance Partner Network (APN) programme in an attempt to refocus its resellers on "quality and skills", according to worldwide channel vice president Barbara Spicek.
October 26, 2010 26 Oct'10
Everything Everywhere appoints new sales head

Mobility JV Everything Everywhere is ramping up its business offering with the addition of Andy Summerfield as corporate sales director for its Orange Business wing.
October 25, 2010 25 Oct'10
Component shortages leave Ericsson flat

Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg has once again blamed a lacklustre quarter on continuing supply chain bottlenecks and shortages of critical components after the Swedish networking giant saw a slim 2% year-on-year rise in sales.
October 25, 2010 25 Oct'10
Extreme hires ex-3Com channel team for platinum push

Extreme Networks has hired two former 3Com channel specialists to drive its own UK partner programme. Steve Johnson, who joins as UK channel director, was formerly business development manager at 3Com/H3C, and also served as UK channel head between ...
October 25, 2010 25 Oct'10
Computerlinks named as new D-Link distie

Security and network distributor Computerlinks is to take on IP surveillance and storage kit from SMB networking vendor D-Link.
October 22, 2010 22 Oct'10
Video demand benefits Polycom

The ongoing spike in demand for video solutions in the business world has seen Polycom book record revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2010, which closed at the end of September. The firm made sales of $308m (£196.2m) up 27% year-on-year,...
October 22, 2010 22 Oct'10
Riverbed acquires as Q3 sales hit new record

Network optimisation vendor Riverbed has stormed to another record quarter and splashed out on wireless packet capture and analysis expert CACE Technologies to boost the traffic recording, analysis and inspection capabilities of its Cascade solution.
October 21, 2010 21 Oct'10
ShoreTel buys Agito to beef up mobile support

Unified comms vendor ShoreTel is buying platform-agnostic enterprise mobility specialist Agito for $11.4m to bulk up its mobile support capabilities.
October 21, 2010 21 Oct'10
Elop wields axe at troubled Nokia

Nokia's new CEO Stephen Elop has announced plans to cut 1,800 jobs, approximately 3% of its total staff, in an attempt to streamline the troubled vendor's smartphone operation.
October 21, 2010 21 Oct'10
Colt to restructure as voice sales slow

Business comms and managed services provider Colt Group is to embark on a restructuring programme to simplify its business and increase its operating efficiency.
October 20, 2010 20 Oct'10
Juniper breaks billion dollar sales barrier

Juniper Networks has broken the billion dollar revenue barrier after posting a 23% year-on-year and 3% sequential spike in revenues to $1.012bn (£638.4m) in its fiscal third quarter, which closed on 30 September.
October 20, 2010 20 Oct'10
Pilots of rural superfast broadband to kick off

The government has outlined plans to start rolling out fast broadband to rural communities as part of its pledge to get more people connected.
October 19, 2010 19 Oct'10
Westcon Convergence takes over Comstor HP contract

Cisco distributor Comstor has handed off its eighteen-month long relationship with HP Networking to its parent, Westcon Convergence.
October 19, 2010 19 Oct'10
Redstone Group to sell Technology division to reseller PFH

Redstone is in advanced talks with reseller and managed service provider PFH Technology Group to sell its Technology division in Ireland.
October 19, 2010 19 Oct'10
Avnet to close Chessington office, staff on redundancy notice

Avnet Technology Solutions has initiated a redundancy programme at its offices in Chessington, formerly the European headquarters of Bell Microproducts, after internally announcing plans to exit the building.
October 18, 2010 18 Oct'10
UK broadband quality improving steadily

The quality of broadband connections across the UK has shown steady improvement during the past 12 months as BT and the government continue to press home the advantages of fibre technology, according to Cisco's annual Broadband Quality Study.
October 18, 2010 18 Oct'10
Redstone offloads assets of legacy telco business

Redstone has sold parts of its legacy PBX business to Maintel Europe for £1.75m in cash.
October 15, 2010 15 Oct'10
Exponential tablet growth threat to netbook market

The netbook market is under increasing threat of cannibalisation as the average selling price of a media tablet drops below the $300 (£186) mark, according to Gartner.
October 15, 2010 15 Oct'10
LANDesk appoints former Trend Micro UK boss

Nigel Seddon, former UK managing director at Trend Micro, has not had to wait long before reappearing in the channel after being handed a role as Northern European sales director at LANDesk.
October 14, 2010 14 Oct'10
Ofcom merges with postal body in quango shake-up

The government is to merge independent communications regulator Ofcom with its postal service counterpart Postcomm as part of the quango cull announced today.
October 14, 2010 14 Oct'10
HP bounds up Ethernet charts

The acquisition of 3Com has sent Hewlett-Packard's share of the worldwide Ethernet port market skyrocketing during the second calendar quarter of 2010, according to In-Stat figures. HP now accounts for 20% of Ethernet port shipments and has bumped ...
October 13, 2010 13 Oct'10
Brick steps down as HP Networking head

HP Networking UK country sales director Darryl Brick has stepped down from his post with immediate effect, it has emerged. His replacement, Barry Bonnett, is joining HP from little-known comms consultancy outfit Stejac.
October 13, 2010 13 Oct'10
Datatec sees challenging first half in UK

Westcon and Logicalis parent Datatec has said that business in the UK remained "challenging" during the first half of its fiscal 2011, which closed at the end of August.
October 13, 2010 13 Oct'10
Spy boss warns of growing network threat

The head of the government's communications intelligence agency, GCHQ, has warned of a growing threat to the UK's network infrastructure and called for a "holistic" response to the potential danger posed by both criminals and hostile foreign ...
October 12, 2010 12 Oct'10
DiData acquisition enters final stages

The £2.1bn acquisition of Dimension Data by NTT is moving ahead after the deal conditions were formally satisfied yesterday. As of midday on Monday Japanese comms outfit NTT had "received valid acceptances" in respect of approximately 93% of ...
October 12, 2010 12 Oct'10
Slow net speeds a growing concern for SMEs

SME advocacy group, the Forum of Private Business (FPB), has released figures suggesting that just under a quarter of British SMEs are deriding their Internet connection speeds as inadequate.
October 12, 2010 12 Oct'10
Vendor squabbles hamstring mobile video market

Lack of interoperability between devices and a growing number of lawsuits between mobile vendors will hold back more widespread use of mobile video technology in the next five years, says a study out today from Juniper Research.
October 11, 2010 11 Oct'10
Everything Everywhere turns on joint network

Both consumer and business customers of Everything every where's Orange and T-Mobile brands are now able to sign up to access the firm's two mobile networks. The move is the first outwardly tangible result of the Everything Everywhere joint venture,...
October 08, 2010 08 Oct'10
Perceived benefits of video technology evolving

Worldwide end-user perceptions of the benefits of video-conferencing technology are beginning to evolve beyond the mere cost savings and travel reduction, according to new research.
October 07, 2010 07 Oct'10
Azlan recruits sales director from BT Engage IT

Azlan has handed newly appointed sales director Joe Breen the remit of building a base of corporate reseller customers.
October 07, 2010 07 Oct'10
Daisy buy-and-build strategy to continue despite losses

Acquisitive UC services outfit Daisy Group has said it will continue to "target further synergistic opportunities" to grow the business through acquisitions, despite posting a hefty £14m post-tax loss in its most recent set of figures.
October 07, 2010 07 Oct'10
Datatec takes 100% Westcon stake

Datatec has snapped upVC outfit Routine Capital's stake in Westcon, taking its share in the networking and convergence distributor to 100%. Prior to the transaction Westcon's equity was owned 97.4% by Datatec and 2.6% by Routine Capital Corporation.
October 06, 2010 06 Oct'10
New Azzurri boss restructures management roles

Mark Quarter Maine, incoming CEO at networking and comms integrator Azzurri, has shuffled senior management and made a series of new appointments, with some personnel, prominent among them sales director Jason Stander wick, leaving the firm.
October 05, 2010 05 Oct'10
Viatel sells channel business to networking venture

Viatel has sold its UK retail business VTL to a new venture called MDNX for an undisclosed sum. The two units had already been separated, and operated as independent units for the past 12 months said Viatel.
October 04, 2010 04 Oct'10
MurphX director handed keys to Daisy Wholesale

Daisy Wholesale, the channel-facing arm of business UC provider Daisy Group, has made former MurphX commercial director Carl Churchill managing director.
October 04, 2010 04 Oct'10
Brocade splits with EMEA channel boss and UK head

Brocade has put up the help wanted sign after splitting with long-serving UK country manager Paul Phillips and relative newcomer EMEA channel director Amanda Giddins. A spokesman at Brocade confirmed the departures but was unable to offer any other ...
October 04, 2010 04 Oct'10
Alternative Networks makes Scalable play

Networking integrator, IP specialist and Mitel partner Scalable Communications has been bought by comms services provider Alternative Networks in a £7.5m cash deal, plus a deferred £2.5m consideration based on future growth.
October 01, 2010 01 Oct'10
Everything Everywhere cans 1,200 jobs after profit slump

Everything everywhere, the recently formed mobile network joint venture between Orange and T-Mobile, is axing 1,200 jobs, approximately 7.5% of its 16,000 total staff, it has emerged.
September 30, 2010 30 Sep'10
FalconStor chief quits over 'improper' payments

FalconStor Software president, CEO and chairman of the board has resigned amid allegations of "improper" payments made in connection to one customer's contract.
September 30, 2010 30 Sep'10
Networks First launches network maturity service

Infrastructure services support specialist Networks First has launched a network maturity assessment tool designed to enable its reseller and integrator partners to identify new opportunities to up sell into their sales targets.
September 30, 2010 30 Sep'10
Cornwall to get disputed £132m fibre broadband network

Plans to give businesses and homes in one of the UK's poorest counties high-speed internet access through fibre to the premises were unveiled today despite a complaint to the European courts about alleged unfair competition for the £132m ...
September 30, 2010 30 Sep'10
Redstone closes door on annus horribilis

The extent of Redstone's troubles have been laid bare by financial results that reflect the tough economic climate and its unclear strategy in fiscal 2010.
September 30, 2010 30 Sep'10
Nortel to fight UK pension claims

Nortel has joined forces with representatives of bankrupt financial house Lehman Brothers to fight demands that they cover deficits in their UK pension schemes. The UK Pensions Regulator is seeking to recover £2.1bn from Nortel and ...
September 29, 2010 29 Sep'10
Redstone restructure begins with closure of BSF division

Redstone is closing its loss-making ie4 (RIE) subsidiary that operates in the ill-fated Building Schools for the Future program.
September 29, 2010 29 Sep'10
Cisco data centre demos a new LEAP for Comstor

Cisco distributor Comstor has lifted the wraps on a data centre proof-of-concept demo and training centre in Brussels based around Cisco's Unified Compute (UCS) architecture.
September 29, 2010 29 Sep'10
Cable & Wireless to build Cisco UCS clouds

Cable & Wireless Worldwide is to build WAN-based enterprise cloud computing solutions based on Cisco's UCS data centre platform.
September 28, 2010 28 Sep'10
Orange Business Services signs up to cloud alliance

Hosted network services provider Orange Business Services has signed up to a new alliance with Cisco, EMC and VMware to target enterprises with cloud-based infrastructure and software-as-a-service solutions.
September 27, 2010 27 Sep'10
Apple concessions end planned EC probe

The European Commission has abandoned its planned antitrust probe of Apple after the vendor made a series of concessions surrounding cross-border repair policies and developer restrictions.
September 27, 2010 27 Sep'10
Ericsson nabs Nortel switching unit

Ericsson has acquired Nortel's multi-service switching (MSS) unit for $65m (£41m) after successfully outbidding a consortium made up of private equity money and a little-known comms firm called Samnite Technologies.
September 23, 2010 23 Sep'10
Blue Coat inks video pact with Alcatel-Lucent

Application delivery specialist Blue Coat has signed a resale agreement with Alcatel-Lucent to bundle its web caching and content delivery portfolio alongside the networking vendor's video delivery platform, Velocix.
September 22, 2010 22 Sep'10
Cisco streamlines rebate scheme

Cisco has taken an axe to its Partner Development Fund (PDF) scheme, reducing the number of tracks from eight to four in an attempt to simplify the programme for its VAR community.
September 21, 2010 21 Sep'10
Polycom adds new EMEA head, business units

Unified comms and video specialist Polycom has bulked up its worldwide business with a series of new hires at the top and the launch of three new lines of business.
September 21, 2010 21 Sep'10
Vodafone programme to speed UC services transition

Vodafone has rolled out a new UK reseller programme designed to help dealers move from traditional communications kit sales to an all-encompassing unified comms model.
September 20, 2010 20 Sep'10
RM says sales on target after bright summer

Summer sales progressed as expected according to education specialist RM despite the government's austerity measures that are wreaking havoc in parts of the sector.
September 20, 2010 20 Sep'10
Calyx Ireland voice and data unit flogged to management

Calyx management have acquired the €20m turnover voice and data security operation in Ireland from receivers Kavanagh Fennell and plan to trade as Unity Technology Solutions.
September 20, 2010 20 Sep'10
Azzurri plugs tech gaps with new unit

Networking integrator Azzurri has launched a new business unit to better integrate its software development arm with its traditional integration and consultancy practice.
September 17, 2010 17 Sep'10
RIM beats forecasts on consumer sales

Canadian mobility vendor RIM has beaten expectations for the second quarter of its fiscal 2010 -which closed on 28 August - after sales rose 31% year-on-year to $3.53bn and net income soared 67% to $796.7m. Device sales accounted for 79% of sales, ...
September 16, 2010 16 Sep'10
Virtualisation security to be top priority in 2011

Research conducted ahead of next month's IP Expo infrastructure trade show has suggested that concerns around virtualisation and data security will dominate IT managers' thoughts over the next 12 months.
September 16, 2010 16 Sep'10
DiData buys into video services with mvision acquisition

Dimension Data has bulked up its managed video services muscle after buying video integrator mvision for an undisclosed sum. Mvision specialises in Tandberg kit, and following the acquisition of the vendor by Cisco had made plans to become a Cisco ...
September 15, 2010 15 Sep'10
Chambers to pay Cisco's first dividend

Cisco CEO John Chambers has decided to let investors in on a bit of the action, returning 1% to 2% of the vendor's $40bn cash pile to shareholders in its first ever dividend payment.
September 15, 2010 15 Sep'10
Radware subject of bidding war talk

Hewlett-Packard may be about to embroil itself in a bidding war with IBM over Israel-based networking and security vendor Radware.
September 14, 2010 14 Sep'10
BT Global Services gets new sales, marketing head

Troubled enterprise ICT services provider BT Global Services (BTGS) has appointed former AT&T EMEA head Tom Regent to president of global sales and marketing.
September 13, 2010 13 Sep'10
Azlan on the prowl for Avaya VARs

C2000's enterprise and networking division Azlan has launched a recruitment drive to win over the Avaya dealer channel and sign up some new members at the same time.
September 13, 2010 13 Sep'10
Nimans boss vows to cut out network jargon

Niman's newly-appointed network services head Mark Curtis-Wood has vowed to take a back-to-basics approach to sales pitches in order to entreat more dealers to consider adopting network services.
September 10, 2010 10 Sep'10
Comstor updates Cisco guidebook

Networking distributor and Cisco-specialist Comstor has updated its Cisco Solutions Handbook, adding sections on the vendor's UCS data centre portfolio for the first time.
September 10, 2010 10 Sep'10
Nokia ousts CEO in favour of Microsoft man

Beleaguered Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has been given his marching orders and will be replaced by Microsoft Business Division head Stephen Elop from 21 September. Kallasvuo spent 30 years at Nokia and helmed the firm from 2006.
September 09, 2010 09 Sep'10
Vodafone announces restructuring plans

Vodafone is to take steps to rationalise its business through a restructuring plan that it says will simplify managerial governance and reduce some unnecessary organisational layers.
September 09, 2010 09 Sep'10
ShoreTel rolls out TCO courses

UC and IP phone specialist ShoreTel is to run a series of channel-centrictotal cost of ownership (TCO)training courses across EMEA todrive uptake ofits Online TCO facility. ShoreTel has staked a big part of its market reputation on beating its ...
September 08, 2010 08 Sep'10
Ciena losses widen on Nortel MEN integration

Ciena has slumped to a GAAP net loss of $109.9m (£71m) or $1.18 per share after booking $17m of acquisition and integration-related costs associated with the integration of Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) business.
September 08, 2010 08 Sep'10
Brocade tweaks Alliance Partner Network

Brocade has made a series of tweaks to its Professional Services (PSP) and Support Delivery (SDP) partner networks to reflect growing sales in IT infrastructure as a service.
September 08, 2010 08 Sep'10
IDC raises converged device sales forecast

Analysts at IDC have raised their global sales forecast for the converged mobile device market by 10% amid greater than expected demand for smartphone devices. The number-crunchers now expect the worldwide market to grow 55.4% over 2009, with 269.6 ...
September 08, 2010 08 Sep'10
Avaya consolidates PBX market leadership in Q2

Avaya has consolidated its position at the top of the PBX shipment tree in the second quarter of 2010, according to the latest market figures from analysts at MZA.
September 03, 2010 03 Sep'10
Mitel CEO calls it a day

Mitel CEO Don Smith has announced his retirement from the company after a nine-year tenure. Smith joined the firm in the spring of 2001, and led the UC software through both its controversial 2007 acquisition of Inter-Tel, and this year's IPO.
September 02, 2010 02 Sep'10
Outsourcery, Nokia launch OCS scheme

Hosted IT services, UC specialist and Microsoft Gold partner Outsourcery has hooked up with Nokia through its in Partnership programme to push sales of the mobile version of Microsoft OCS.
September 01, 2010 01 Sep'10
Chess Telecom sticks with buy and build blueprint

Chess Telecom is forging ahead with a buy and build strategy despite posting modest revenue growth in its most recent financial year during which it made 12 acquisitions.
September 01, 2010 01 Sep'10
Blue Coat names new CEO

Blue Coat CEO Brian NeSmith is to step aside to take up a technical role within the company and will be replaced by newcomer Michael Borman, the firm has revealed. Borman joins the WAN optimisation vendor from switch vendor Avocent, which was ...
September 01, 2010 01 Sep'10
Wick Hill expands line-up with Panasonic appointment

Wick Hill continues to expand its portfolio in the voice and data convergence distribution space with the appointment of Panasonic.