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01732 759725 16 NEWS : VENDORS Brother UK has become one of just nine companies in the country to receive Government-backed ‘We Invest in Apprenticeships’ accreditation. The scheme, led by Investors in People and developed with the Department of Education, assesses businesses on their commitment to apprenticeship schemes, the development of their learners and the support they give. Apprentices make up 5% of Brother’s workforce and include everyone from school leavers to diploma trainees and degree learners. Former apprentices who have taken up roles at Brother include Gemmer Crozier, who completed her apprenticeship in 2014 and now leads the company’s green strategy as a sustainable development coordinator, and Lewis Johnstone, who has been recognised as a rising star by UK business supplies and services trade association BOSS. Sam Johnson, learning and organisational development manager at Brother UK, said: “Investing in our people’s development creates a positive working culture and ensures we have a sustainable future by generating the skills we need to grow. Our apprenticeship programme represents a vital part of this, enabling us to bring in new talent while providing an opportunity to support young people in the communities we work in.” In February, Brother won Best Apprenticeship Programme in the PrintIT Awards presented by Technology Reseller sister publication PrintIT Reseller (turn to page 30 for details of the other winners). www.brother.co.uk Brother among first to gain new apprenticeship accreditation CityFibre partners with Virtual1 Partners of CityFibre, the UK’s third digital infrastructure platform, and wholesale- only network provider Virtual1 can look forward to profitable new opportunities after the two companies announced a mutually beneficial partnership. The agreement gives Virtual1 partners access to CityFibre’s portfolio of full fibre Ethernet products in 28 towns and cities across the UK, and enables CityFibre to provide ‘off-net’ choice to its partners by leveraging Virtual1’s national network to deliver fibre options beyond its own full fibre footprint. NEC name change for Northgate NEC is strengthening its position as a developer of cutting-edge software and services for local government, housing, the police and healthcare by bringing Northgate Public Services (NPS), which it acquired in 2018, under the NEC brand. From July 2021, NPS will be known as NEC Software Solutions UK, while continuing to operate as a separate limited company from offices in the UK. Tina Whitley, CEO designate of Northgate Public Services, said: “As NEC Software Solutions UK, we can maintain our roots in the UK while expanding our presence in the global market with the backing to enable us to bring the latest innovations in IoT, AI and facial recognition to our customers.” New developments planned under the NEC brand include a fully mobile housing asset management system for social housing landlords, a cloud-based control room system for emergency services and a combined case management system for adult and youth offending for the justice sector. https://www.northgateps.com Infovista SD-WAN updates help MSPs unlock subscription revenue Infovista has updated its Ipanema Software Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) platform to enable Managed Service Providers to unlock new subscription revenues. Enhancements include multi-tenancy features and a ‘flex up and down’ consumption-based licensing model that enables MSPs and customers to change service tiers and capacity options without initiating a new set-term contract. Kristian Thyregod, President Global Enterprise, Infovista, said: “This update helps MSPs to better address the requirements of a growing community of end-customers that are implementing SD-WAN for the first time, in part due to the need to tackle work-from-home issues and growing cloud and SaaS usage. “The new update builds upon our ‘transparent’ concept that allows the delivery of SD-WAN without the need for costly replacement or complex reconfiguration of network switches and routers. This allows our partners to enable new services without expecting customers to commit to major CAPEX spend.” The update also enables MSPs to build SD-WAN capability into value-added services via integrations with Unified Communications, remote backup and enhanced security services, for example. Gartner forecasts growth in SD-WAN deployments of around 18% annually to the end of 2024. By 2024, it expects managed SD-WAN adoption to have reached at least 60% of enterprise locations. www.infovista.com Vertical solutions from Fuze Cloud-based communications provider Fuze is drawing on expertise gained supporting enterprise customers in a variety of industries and developing a series of solutions tailored for specific verticals, starting with manufacturing. Fuze for Manufacturing provides organisations with a reliable, centralised and modern cloud communications platform to increase worker efficiency regardless of location – office, warehouse, factory or production facility. In addition to standard Fuze features like international calling, audio and video meetings, messaging, reporting/analytics and an integrated contact centre, Fuze for Manufacturing provides enhanced capabilities for supply chain, distribution and logistics, lone worker safety and integrations with adjacent solutions, such as ServiceNow. Two licences are available: Manufacturing Essentials and Manufacturing Contact Center. Sam Johnson Andrew Wilson, CityFibre