Category: News

The Business Software Centre (TBSC) has announced a reseller partnership with Grey Matter.

TBSC’s software asset management solutions help businesses simplify SPLA (Service Provider Licensing Agreements) reporting, optimise their Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions, and monitor app usage. Their products Smarter SPLA, Smarter 365 and Smarter App Inventories complement Grey Matter’s position as a Microsoft licensing specialist and Indirect and Direct CSP (Cloud Solution Provider).

TBSC  director Phil Hames said: “Grey Matter has strength as an industry-leading software solutions reseller, and we are thrilled here at TBSC to provide software asset management tools to offer support. We believe our solutions partnered with Grey Matter will become an effortless streamline for our business growth.” Read more…

The second half of next year will be pants for the PC channel according to Context analysts.

Apparently, this year was only much chop because the corporate market was strong, fueled by users looking to move away from Windows 7, and the consumer side remaining in the doldrums as users look to spend their money on other formats.

The support for Windows 7 switches off next month but Intel CPU delays have plagued the market all year and made it difficult for some users to make the switch to fresh hardware. That means the same conditions should play out for at least the first half of the year.

But Context thinks that demand to weaken after January and anyone hoping that the consumer side might kick into life and make up for the commercial declines is probably going to be disappointed with demand for desktops and laptops looking weak. Read more…

HP is expanding the finance options which will enable channel partners to encourage more deals to be signed off.

The vendor has renewed its partnership with HPE Financial Services but has also added DLL Group into the mix and indicated that it could well work with more finance players in local markets to provide greater channel coverage.

Deborah Baker, head of worldwide leasing and financing, HP, said that it wanted to help channel partners secure recurring revenue and offer competitive payment options.

“As HP becomes more aggressive in its shift to a services-led model, financing is a capability we are prioritising and integrating into more of our solutions. We strongly believe the more innovative our payment solutions are, the more likely we are to secure new business and maximise refresh opportunities,” she added that research showed that those resellers that adopted finance usually secured bigger deals from customers,” she said. Read more…

The general marching orders from business leaders to IT these days is lead them out of the data centre, according to Stuart Day, EMEA Director of Channel Sales, iland.

Day said most organisations now fully recognise the cost benefits and agility of moving applications and data to the cloud, trading CAPEX to OPEX expenditures through cloud subscription services. For the channel community, this means moving to an annuity-based revenue model, building out new types of cloud-based services that will replace large parts of their traditional on-premise business.

“Resellers need to reduce their reliance on traditional and shrinking business models, whilst building out and developing new value-add services. As more organisations explore the cloud, a stable and robust but balanced approach is required to best serve their needs,” Day said. Read more…

Cardiff University has signed a contract for a £15million partnership with Circle IT that will see a radical overhaul of the University’s network infrastructure and support services over the next ten years.

Following a procurement exercise, Cardiff University awarded the contract for the ten-year project to Circle IT, which is comprised of a three year rollout period and seven years’ support. The new network will support the University’s technological growth and accommodate new and existing technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things. Once live, staff and students will benefit from major enhancements in data capacity, network resilience and experience, security and new integrated technologies.

The partnership will bring wired and wireless network access across Cardiff University’s 300 plus building campus – for staff and students alike – in what will be one of the largest Wi-Fi network deployments in Europe to date, encompassing some 11,000 wireless access points and over 1000 switches. The project will be completed in a co-sourced environment with several key vendors chosen to deliver datacentre networking, onboarding and other essential services. Read more…

Datto has appointed Justine Harris as new Sales Director, UK & Ireland.

Justine joins Datto from Vodafone Business in the UK, where she was Interim Head of Global Sales, Cloud, and Security. Prior to that, Justine held the role of Regional Vice President EMEA at Akamai Technologies, responsible for strengthening Akamai’s channel ecosystem and enabling partners to deliver greater value to their customers.

Justine has extensive experience from senior sales positions at CA Technologies, where she developed and delivered sales and go-to-market strategies for CA Technologies’ service provider and cloud solutions, both across EMEA and worldwide.

At Datto, Justine will oversee the expansion of the UK and Ireland business. This includes building strong and successful relationships with existing and new partners in the Datto community and enabling MSPs to unlock new business opportunities Read more…

B.ICONIC, the parent of one of Ireland’s largest Apple Premium Resellers (APRs), is buying Stormfront – the unfortunately named Apple retailer and not the Neo-nazi organisation.

Stormfront has 23 shops around the country making it the UK’s biggest APR. It sells and fixes Mac gear, and employs over 300 staff.

Stormfront adds €60m a year to B.ICONIC revenues. In the year ended 30 September 2018, Stormfront made £57.3 million in sales, pretty much flat with the prior year when it felt the impact of Apple’s post-Brexit price rises. Last year it made profits of £214,000.

B.ICONIC chief exec Ciaran McCormack said in a statement: “This is a landmark acquisition for the B.ICONIC Group. The UK is an important market for our business, and this deal allows us to grow our presence significantly in this market. Stormfront complements our existing Apple Premium Reseller, business-to-business and education technology offering in the UK and Ireland, expanding our opportunities and supporting the delivery of our strategic growth plan for our business.”