PrintIT Reseller - issue 72

PRINTITRESELLER.UK 7 BULLETIN Ingram Micro to establish centre of excellence for IoT Ingram Micro is expanding its global go-to-market capabilities and portfolio around the Internet of Things establishing a Global Centre of Excellence and placing more emphasis on key verticals, services and solutions to aid channel partners and manufacturers in accelerating IoT market adoption. “The introduction of a Global Centre of Excellence will smooth and accelerate the road-to-market for our channel partners and manufacturers specialising in IoT and pave the way for us to share best practices, new market applications and resources globally,” said Executive Vice President And President of Global Technology Solutions, Paul Bay. As part of its ongoing efforts to enable and empower channel partners, Ingram Micro is also teaming with established and emerging IoT, Artificial Intelligence and Mixed Reality manufacturers to broaden its solutions portfolio. Additional resources including financing, solution development services and market- ready use cases are being made available to channel partners worldwide, especially as demand for select technologies and service capabilities are being prioritised around key markets in high demand. www.ingrammicro.com RangeForce and One Distribution partner up One Distribution and RangeForce, a SaaS cybersecurity training platform provider have announced a partnership to broaden availability of the RangeForce platform in the UK and Ireland. “Our enterprise customers are looking to reduce the costs of training as well as increase cyber incident detection and reduce the need to have critical staffers off-site at training. These are all factors in driving newer cloud-based, on-demand cybersecurity training platforms to the forefront as a significant focus of technology investment,” said John Dams, General Manager, One Distribution. “RangeForce provides its entire training platform as a single SaaS solution, including 130+ training modules and a highly effective cyber range that has been battle-tested by major banks and technology firms across the UK and Ireland.” www.onedistribution.co.uk Collaboration solution Qunifi, operator of the Call2Teams cloud service for connecting Microsoft Teams to an existing phone system has partnered with Vonage to connect Vonage Business Communications (formerly Vonage Business Cloud) with Microsoft’s collaboration solution. CEO Mark Herbert said: “Customers are excited about using Microsoft Teams as a unified collaboration environment, but up to now adding the Teams phone calling feature has been perceived as disruptive or costly. We have worked with Vonage to create a simple per-user add-on to the Vonage Business Communications service that gives customers all the benefits of Microsoft Teams using the Vonage service, numbers and call features they already have.” Vonage customers do not need to install any hardware or software; the Call2Teams dial pad simply appears in Teams. www.call2teams.com/vonage Antalis donates to Help NHS Heroes Antalis Packaging received a call from Help NHS Heroes asking for a donation of boxes and delivered 1,000 boxes to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage the same afternoon. Sales Manager Holly Jackson, not only coordinated the delivery, but went the extra mile by volunteering at the Lister hospital pop-up tent to help make up food parcels, containing enough food for two days to be distributed to key workers at the hospital. Antalis will continue to support Help NHS Heroes and is currently looking at how it can improve the boxes for future food distribution with the aid of hand-holds so that the boxes can be carried off-site with ease. www.antalispackagingsolutions.co.uk Computacenter chiefs take pay cut Computacenter Chief Executive Officer Mike Norris and Group Finance Director Tony Conophy have elected to reduce their base salary to zero from 1 April to June 30 this year, showing solidarity with staff that have been furloughed across the business. In addition, Philip Hulme and Peter Ogden have waived basic fees due to them as Founder Non-Executive Directors from 1 April until 31 December. www.computacenter.com Integra supports dealers Integra Business Solutions has reported an uplift in enquiries relating to its i-merge platform. The initiative, launched in 2019, is a confidential service aimed at dealer principals looking to either buy or sell a dealership and looks to find, match and support independent dealers wanting to take the next step in the business lifecycle. CEO Aidan McDonough, said: “During this incredibly challenging time, we are working to support members in any way we can to sustain and navigate their businesses through this. Inevitably however, we have had an increase in the number of dealers looking to exit their businesses. We do have members still actively looking to acquire and are facilitating this where appropriate. With access to free consultancy and a network of professionals to guide them through the many pitfalls, we are encouraging members to come and talk to us. This goes for any dealer in the industry who may benefit from using this service.” Integra can provide a simple introduction or an all-encompassing service incorporating support with SPAs, legal advice and valuations. www.integra-business.co.uk 13 October 2020 Mike Norris Tony Conophy