technologyreseller.co.uk 33 a quite unique market positioning and it’s something we take great care to maintain, but even we may not be able to meet your needs if you suddenly hit us with something out of left field and say ‘Hey, we need this product tomorrow’.” So, what advice does Patel have for partners? “Just keep talking to us. Engage early; tell us what you need; tell us when you need it. A lot of resellers are very reticent to do that, but doing so gives you the right pricing, it gives you protection for your project and, more importantly, it gives you stock allocation. Those things are absolutely key to retaining customers. “With small run rate deals, it helps us make sure we're ordering the right quantities and have the right stock availability. And for partners that are working on large projects with multiple different products – switches, wireless routers etc. – and different licences, it gives a level of security and confidence that they will be able to retain the customer, retain the business, retain the project.” These problems have been a big frustration for D-Link because, as well as interrupting larger smart city projects, they have impacted growing demand since Covid to upgrade office and public sector infrastructure, including schools. “They make evolution of technology much harder. As we move from, say, Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 and 2.5/5/10 Gigabit switches, we are dependent on having early access to chips, but if you can't get the chips because the fabs are closed or because they’re focused on other things, customers who want to move to those technologies are having to wait longer. It’s the same in the home, where we’re seeing a huge push from legacy Wi-Fi 5 mesh systems to Wi-Fi 6 products offering enhanced connectivity.” Despite these problems, which have eased but still not fully gone away, D-Link has continued to perform strongly, following UK growth of circa 30% in 2021 with strong double-digit growth in 2022. “Our managed service provider business, that cloud-managed infrastructure, is still extremely buoyant. We're seeing huge growth rates in the public sector, because school infrastructure is now being upgraded. We’re seeing a growing need for reliable connectivity via a mobile connection and, as we move to more permanent hybrid working, certain sectors want to be able to deploy a low-cost backup connection. For example, at home I'm plugging in one of our 5G routers so if the internet goes down or becomes very slow, I have a 5G failover capability. That, too, is a major growth area for us. We won a deal recently with a company called Quickline, which is putting our routers into rural areas. In addition, there’s a growing requirement to build local 5G infrastructure in hospitals for connected devices and reporting. So we're seeing a two-pronged approach, Wi Fi or 5G, to address the different applications our customers have.” Meanwhile, remote management of devices through Nuclias Connect network management software and Nuclias Cloud cloud-based remote management is helping customers tackle other challenges, such as security and energy efficiency. “Two of the things Nuclias Cloud lets you do, which is driving our cloud growth, is improve security and consume less power by turning off devices outside working hours, say 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It gives you the ability to power down switches at 7 p.m. and then fire them back up again at 7.55 a.m. Our devices don't consume a lot of energy, but even these little savings can make a difference.” Whatever fresh challenges 2023 throws up, make sure you are first in line for stock allocations and favourable pricing by planning ahead and maintaining a dialogue with key vendors like D-Link. eu.dlink.com/uk/en Don't allow the switch off to shatter the future of your business. Upgrade your analogue technology today and connect through NTA’s VoIP Platform. What are you waiting for? 01708 320 000 www.nta.co.uk
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