Author: Nick Farrell

UK’s Claranet goes nuts over Brazil

Posted on February 16, 2021 by - News

UK-based MSP Claranet says it plans to invest $100 million expanding its Brazilian operations.

Claranet Brazil CEO Edivaldo Rocha said the idea is to become “the leading cloud services provider in Brazil” by making Brazil’s operation one of the largest hybrid cloud and cybersecurity players in the market, focusing on services with high growth potential and aligned with the digitalisation challenges of medium-sized companies.

Claranet Brazil has grown 37 percent year on year for the past five years and has a team of more than 200 staff in-country, but plans to more than double that to 500 by the end of this year.

Insight reports challenging year

Posted on February 16, 2021 by - News

US reseller Insight reported flat year on year sales in Q4 for the three months ending 31 December 2020 at $2.29 billion in what its CEO called its most challenging year.

In EMEA, net sales were also flat year on year at $403 million while EMEA earnings fell by nine percent to $9.3 million.

Insight CEO Kenneth Lamneck said 2020 was “one of the most challenging we faced as a company”.

“In the fourth quarter, the demand environment continued to be challenged and we focused on answering our client’s most pressing IT needs while helping many plan for the investment required to support the business as the economy recovers.”

Microsoft improves channel programme

Posted on February 15, 2021 by - News

Microsoft campusSoftware king of the Word,  Microsoft, has spruced up its channel programme to encourage more co-selling across its ecosystem.

Microsoft’s improvements are aimed at getting more activity across the ecosystem with co-selling into SMEs and working more closely with ISVs as well as providing more online tools for the channel.

Firstly, there is a central partner centre that will unify all the vendor’s channel capabilities on a global basis on a single platform. It will give partners the opportunity to get access to co-sell, cloud solution provider programme details and other certification and incentives.

Nick Parker, corporate vice-president, global partner solutions at Microsoft, penned a blog post to usher in the changes and commented: “Partners influence more than 95 percent of Microsoft’s commercial revenue, either directly or in partnership with Microsoft.”

“Microsoft continued to see growth in the second quarter of FY21, especially across the Microsoft Commercial cloud. This trajectory is expected to continue as Microsoft partners build devices, applications and cloud-to-edge solutions,” he said.

Microsoft’s channel could boost UK economy

Posted on February 12, 2021 by - News

Microsoft campusA report has shown how Microsoft’s channel can play a key role in helping the UK economy recover from the pandemic and make a bob or two on the side.

Goldsmith’s, University of London has come up with a study which is based on an earlier creating a blueprint for UK competitiveness. That report was released in October and found a £48 billion opportunity for UK firms to improve their competitiveness by introducing some small changes.

Arrow Ace shoots for the cloud

Posted on February 12, 2021 by - News

Arrow Electronics has announced the launch of its new Arrow Cloud Enablement Programme (ACE) in the UK.

The programme offers three levels of entry with benefits that scale as the member moves through the levels. Adopter-level members will receive sales enablement, technical, marketing and planning support, plus training in core competencies and cloud assessments. Adventurer and Ambassador-level members gain additional benefits, including bespoke marketing support and a dedicated account management structure.

Innserve rolls out Panasonic Toughbooks

Posted on February 12, 2021 by - News

Beer and soft drink dispense systems specialist Innserve has rolled out Panasonic Toughbook  L1 Android tablets to its 400 technicians across the UK.

Apparently, the rollout of the lightweight rugged Android devices has improved productivity and reduced the cost and complexity of mobile computing for Innserve, which services 75,000 licensed premises across Great Britain.

Whistl hires FedEx’s Jon Stockton as part of shakeup

Posted on February 11, 2021 by - News

UK delivery management company Whistl has hired Jon Stockton as Director Fulfilment and Contact Centres (South) to lead the Northampton, Rushden and Farnborough sites.

Stockton joins the company from FedEx, most recently holding the post of Vice President Ground Operations UK.  He has been with the company 26 years, joining TNT Express at the start of his management career. His experience includes building and leading high performing teams in the logistics, fulfilment and depot operations areas.

Softcat named Trend Micro’s only UK Platinum partner

Posted on February 11, 2021 by - News

Trend Micro has announced that long-time Gold partner Softcat will be elevated to the Platinum tier of its partner programme, where it will be able to access a range of additional commercial and technical benefits. Softcat will be the first Trend Micro Platinum partner for the UK and Ireland.

Softcat has been one of Trend Micro’s largest partners for a number of years, helping organisations to mitigate cyber risk and build a secure foundation for growth via a range of innovative technology solutions and services. Over the last 14 months, the commitment from Softcat and growth has resulted in Platinum status.

Tech Data UK gets closer to Cisco

Posted on February 11, 2021 by - News

Tech Data has achieved Cisco Customer Experience Specialisation status in the UK

Tech Data’s Cisco director UK and Ireland Tony Nevill said: “The achievement of Cisco Customer Experience Specialisation further underlines Tech Data’s credentials as a trusted advisor and partner of choice for Cisco resellers in the UK. We see customer experience as a competitive differentiator and critical to our success. This accreditation highlights the depth of our services capability and skills, and our total commitment to meeting the needs of Cisco partners in the UK.”

A number of technical accreditations must be achieved to attain the Customer Experience Specialisation. Tech Data was required to demonstrate its capability to support the lifecycle of the entire solution on Cisco technologies and to help reseller partners achieve positive business outcomes for their end-user customers.

Tech Data provides pre-shipment configuration and testing on Cisco UCS data centre and networking systems at its UK configuration centre – the only UK location to hold a Cisco Level 6 Accreditation.

Acronis couples with EveryCloud

Posted on February 10, 2021 by - News

Cyber protection outfit Acronis has announced a partnership with EveryCloud.

EveryCloud will now be able to provide the family of cyber protection offerings to its business customers, it said.

The offerings cover backup, disaster recovery, AI-enhanced anti-malware, endpoint security and management tools, file sync and share, as well as blockchain-based file notarisation and e-signature services –  managed from a single console.

Sound Control Technologies distributes through CUK

Posted on February 10, 2021 by - News

Camera extension outfit Sound Control Technologies (SCT) has appointed CUK Group to distribute its products in the UK. Distribution was previously handled by ScanSource.

The addition of SCT to the CUK Group portfolio significantly strengthens the company’s video products offering which has grown through the recent addition of several brands and the purchase of York-based distributor, Tukans, the company claimed.

Employers desperate for more IT workers

Posted on February 10, 2021 by - News

Employers across the United Kingdom accelerated their search for information technology (IT) workers to close out 2020, according to a new report from CompTIA.

The CompTIA UK IT Employment Snapshot reveals that job postings for core IT positions totalled 198,805 in the first quarter of 2020. That was an increase of more than 32,000 from the third quarter and nearly equal to the pre-pandemic number in the first quarter.

Euro disties making a fortune

Posted on February 9, 2021 by - News

Distributors did rather well last year and it is predicted that the momentum will keep going this year, according to beancounters at Context.

The analyst house noted that week three of 2021 saw distribution bringing in revenues of €1.8 billion for the second week in a row.

Last week, Context forecast that the channel would enjoy year-on-year growth of between six to 12 percent this quarter. The firm has charted some concerns about shortages, but overall the sense of optimism across the distribution channel has continued to be high as the first few weeks of 2021 have progressed.

The UK has been a bit more sluggish, although marginally behind the position it was in back in the first few weeks of 2019. The government’s move to get more laptops into the hands of schools has driven down prices, which has had a hit on revenues, given that is the most in-demand technology at the moment.

TKAT gives MLL Telecom seven year contract

Posted on February 9, 2021 by - News

MLL Telecom has been awarded a seven-year contract by The Kemnal Academies Trust (TKAT) to provide a High Speed Broadband Service as well as centrally managed firewall and content filtering.

TKAT is one of the largest Multi-Academy Trusts in the South East of England with 45 Primary, Special and Secondary Academies in East Sussex, Essex, Hampshire, Kent/Bromley/Bexley, Surrey and West Sussex.

The contract follows a competitive tender process under the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Education Technology Framework Agreement, RM6103 Lot 3 Broadband Services in response to TKAT’s requirement to centralise, standardise and upgrade the delivery of Broadband Services across the Trust, which included firewall and filtering solutions.

COVID-19 makes UK manufacturers targets

Posted on February 9, 2021 by - News

The continuing pandemic has created a series of emergencies for UK manufacturers according to research conducted by the Ponemon Institute and commissioned by Keeper Security.

A combination of rapidly implemented remote working, together with reduced staffing, closures and supply chain disruption led to lost revenue and productivity, with security neglected as business leaders sought to fight the most visibly pressing issues first.

More than half of manufacturing firms experienced a cyberattack in 2020, with 37 percent saying the conditions created through COVID-19 made the attacks possible.