www.technologyreseller.uk THE MAGAZINE & ONLINE CHANNEL NEWS & RESOURCE FOR MSPS, IT RESELLERS & SUPPORT PROVIDERS Q&A PAGE 16 With David Tulip, Director MSP EMEA at Egnyte PAGE 08 How should businesses react to recent cloud outages? ASK THE EXPERTS COMMS PAGE 28 Voiceflex turns 20 with stronger focus on data services TECHNOLOGY RESELLER MAGAZINE IN PRINT & ONLINE SINCE 2016 IN PRINT & ONLINE SINCE 2016 IN PRINT & ONLINE SINCE 2016
www.spitfire.co.uk/all-ip-special-offer Telecoms and IP Engineering Solutions for Business since 1988 Innovative • Flexible • Reliable • Supportive • Cost Effective Sales 020 7501 3333 • Partner Services 020 7501 3150 www.spitfire.co.uk Your telecoms journey in 2026? • No migration charge from legacy analogue line, ISDN or broadband circuits. • Choice of minimum contract periods from 3 months +. • Digital voice line with call bundle included. • Quality of Service options with performance SLAs up to ‘Ethernet’ standard. • Upgrade to super fast fibre on availability within minimum term. • Also consider Spitfire’s FireSwitch® 2.3 hosted pbx, a feature rich, latest generation telephone system with low cost monthly rental and no up front cost. Spitfire offer a range of easy upgrade paths to All IP and super fast fibre. Key Awards Legacy analogue, ISDN, broadband contracts change in 2026. Take our high road to All IP & Full Fibre. Future proof your business and save costs. Big Switch Off 31st January 2027.
O4 Distribution News Vasion and TD SYNNEX highlight opportunities in print management 08 Ask the Experts How should businesses and Government respond to AWS and Microsoft Azure outages? 12 Reseller News ANS boosts its AI-readiness 16 Q&A With David Tulip, Director MSP EMEA at Egnyte 18 Data Centres Is Scotland becoming a key destination for data centre developers? 19 Opinion Peter Miller, Sales Manager at ETB, makes the case for refurbished tech 20 Cover Story Futera CEO Lee Manning explains why MSPs that embrace diversification will be the big winners in 2026 22 60 seconds with… Steph Hackney, Channel Marketing Manager UKI & Nordics at OpenText Cybersecurity 24 Workplace Logitech brings haptics to the computer mouse – and releases research highlighting hybrid workers’ desire for the latest tech 28 VOIP Voiceflex marks 20-year anniversary with stronger focus on technology services 30 Communications Highlights from Gammaverse 2025 32 Security Is Shayype the future of authentication? 34 Tech Digest A round-up of the latest developments from established and emerging technology vendors 36 Internet Zen Internet celebrates its first 30 years as an independent internet service provider 38 Events Paul Johnson’s report on the PrintIT and Technology Reseller Golf Society’s final round of 2025 40 People New faces, new places 03 CONTENTS technologyreseller.co.uk ISSN 2632-9301 (Print) ISSN 2632-931X (Online) Technology Reseller is published by Kingswood Media Ltd., 7 Amherst House, 22 London Road, Sevenoaks TN13 2BT • Tel: 01732 759725 Email: [email protected] www.technologyreseller.co.uk No part of Technology Reseller can be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. © 2025 Kingswood Media Ltd. Editor: James Goulding 07803 087228 · [email protected] Publishing Director, Social Media and Web Editor: Neil Trim 01732 759725 · [email protected] Advertising Director: Ethan White 01732 759725 · [email protected] Events & Commercial activities: Paul Johnson 01732 759725 · [email protected] Account Manager: Jeff Root 01732 759725 · [email protected] Designer: Brian Cloke 07484 288189 · [email protected] If you no longer wish to receive Technology Reseller magazine, please email your details to [email protected] Register online To receive your regular FREE printed copy of Technology Reseller Magazine simply fill in our online registration form at www.technologyreseller.uk/register Read Technology Reseller online, on tablets and smart phones www.technologyreseller.uk Join us : Follow us technology-reseller-magazine technologyreseller.co.uk Page 20 TECHNOLOGY RESELLER MAGAZINE IN PRINT & ONLINE SINCE 2016 IN PRINT & ONLINE SINCE 2016 IN PRINT & ONLINE SINCE 2016 Image credit: Ian Bayyaglia via Unsplash
01732 759725 DISTRIBUTOR NEWS 04 New partnerships highlight Hammer’s evolving capabilities Hammer Distribution, the specialist enterprise IT distributor, has announced a raft of new distribution agreements after reverting to its original name from Exertis Enterprise. The revival of the Hammer name follows DCC’s sale of its Exertis IT businesses in the UK and Ireland to Aurelius, including Exertis UK Business and Consumer, Hypertec, Exertis Supplies, Exertis Ireland, Macro EV, Exertis Supply Chain Services, MTR and Ztorm, but not Exertis Enterprise, now Hammer. While Hammer remains a leading distributor of enterprise IT components, including storage devices, networking, GPUs and CPUs, its capabilities have evolved significantly since 2018 when it was acquired by DCC. These include an expanded product portfolio with the addition of power protection and datacentre connectivity; a dedicated cybersecurity team; a Cloud sales platform delivering modern workplace, infrastructure and cyber-asa-service; and a specialist Networking Division powering AI-ready datacentres. Over the same period, Hammer has evolved from a UK-centric business into a leading European distributor with six additional trading offices across Europe, a European warehouse and a state-ofthe-art production facility for delivering ready-made datacentre solutions. Hammer’s new vendor partnerships reflect its commitment to meet evolving customer needs as AI, cloud and cybersecurity reshape infrastructure demands. New additions include iQuila, provider of a next-generation software-defined Ethernet overlay (VEN); Lightning IQ, a leader in real-time data intelligence and unstructured data management; and Liqid, a leader in composable infrastructure for on-premises datacentres and edge environments. Designed for modern, distributed enterprises, the iQuila platform delivers a true LAN experience over any internet connection (wired, wireless, 4G/5G, satellite), enabling users, sites and edge locations to operate as if they’re on the same office network with full Ethernet handoff. It unifies secure connectivity, performance optimisation and centralised control within a single, scalable software platform resulting in faster onboarding, simplified operations and lower infrastructure complexity, without the fragility and overheads of legacy VPNs. Dominic Ryles, Director of Sales and Alliances at Hammer Distribution, said: “Our partnership with iQuila marks an exciting step forward in how we enable our channel partners to tackle today’s connectivity and security challenges. iQuila’s innovative zero trust and VPN-free architecture perfectly complements our carefully curated cybersecurity portfolio, giving partners the ability to deliver modern, scalable and secure solutions to their customers.” Hammer’s partnership with Lightning IQ also brings new opportunities for partners, helping them to tackle the challenges of ROT (redundant, obsolete and trivial) data and unlock new value from enterprise information via a data discovery, compliance and cost optimisation platform that enables organisations to scan, map and index petabyte-scale unstructured data at unprecedented speed. The third new vendor, Liqid, gives partners across the UK, Benelux and Nordics access to software-defined composable GPU and CXL-based memory solutions that enable enterprises to overcome power, cooling and scaling challenges associated with deploying high‑density GPU and memory resources for inference workloads and build on‑premises infrastructure rivalling the agility and efficiency of the public cloud. Adam Blackwell, Director of AI, Server and Advanced Technology at Hammer, said: “ The demand for solutions that can handle data-heavy workloads like AI is growing exponentially, and Liqid’s composable infrastructure is perfectly positioned to meet this need. By bringing Liqid into our portfolio, we’re enabling our partners to deliver AI-ready infrastructure that is more efficient, more flexible and more profitable.” Hammer says the shift of enterprise AI from training to inference is creating a $100B+ TAM for inference infrastructure. Channel partners successfully adapting to hyperscaler cloud marketplaces, says Omdia Enterprise software sales through hyperscaler cloud marketplaces, led by AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud, are forecast to surge from $30 billion in 2024 to $163 billion by 2030, according to Omdia. Its research suggests that the five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.1% is being driven by growing enterprise adoption of marketplace procurement and greater use of hyperscaler marketplaces as a primary route to market by software vendors. Omdia Chief Analyst Alastair Edwards said: “Hyperscaler marketplaces continue to see rapid momentum as a route to market for vendors across the technology industry. A small but growing number of ISVs are now reaching – and exceeding – $1 billion of annual sales through AWS, Google Cloud Marketplace and Microsoft Azure Marketplace, as they activate both partners and distributors to reach a broader set of cloud customers and drive an increasing share of sales.” Key growth drivers identified by Omdia include Agentic AI, which is expected to be one of the fastest-growing categories in the next five years as hyperscalers promote agent marketplaces as a channel, and the continued growth of upfront multi-year cloud commitments by enterprise customers, a proportion of which customers can spend on third-party marketplace purchases. It estimates that there are currently close to $470 billion in cloud commitments across AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, with nearly $30 billion of new commitments added in Q2 2025 alone. It suggests that customers are moving from using marketplace purchases to burn down unused commitments to more strategic marketplace procurement, negotiating cloud commitments to include budget for a broader set of vendor products that align with their cloud adoption strategies. Omdia’s research indicates that partner private offers and distributor models from all three of the major hyperscalers are enabling channel partners to adapt to this new procurement method rather than being displaced by it. It predicts that by 2030 partners will facilitate nearly 60% of all marketplace transactions, helping customers manage their commitments, purchase across multiple cloud marketplaces and provide expertise and support across the full customer lifecycle. https://omdia.tech.informa.com Dominic Ryles
DISTRIBUTOR NEWS technologyreseller.co.uk continued... 05 Vasion and TD SYNNEX highlight opportunities in print management TD SYNNEX is strengthening its managed print offering through a pan-European distribution agreement with Vasion Print, formally PrinterLogic, a leader in cloudnative print management technology. Building on an existing partnership in North America, the agreement will give partners in Europe access to Vasion Print’s cloud-native SaaS print management solutions, which enable businesses of all sizes to reduce costs, improve efficiency and enhance security by eliminating print servers and consolidating the management of office printers, thermal printers and mainframe data streams on a single, centrally managed direct IP printing platform. Christiana Christenson, Vasion’s Global Vice President of Channel Sales, said: “Our research with IDC indicates that 75% of the world’s printers operate unmanaged, creating inefficiencies, security vulnerabilities and a significant opportunity for IT service providers. TD SYNNEX’s extensive reach, customer base and unrivalled experience will enable us to extend the benefits of this technology to businesses across the region.” www.TDSYNNEX.com … N-able turns to Infinigate to power UK expansion N-able is powering its UK expansion by extending its long-standing 20-country partnership with Infinigate. The extension will give MSPs and resellers in the UK seamless access to the full N-able cyber resilience platform spanning the full attack lifecycle, from minimising the attack surface before an incident to reducing operational impact during an attack and maintaining business continuity afterwards. Jon Bartholomew, Vice President Channel Sales at N-able, said: “With Infinigate on board in the UK, we’re building on our existing, successful partnership to unlock new opportunities. We aim to be a trusted security-focused partner for the midmarket, who often face enterprise level threats without enterprise level resources, making our end-to-end platform critical.” n-able.com … Huntress advances global go‑to-market with Sherweb In a significant scaling of its global go-tomarket strategy Huntress has signed its first-ever global distribution agreement with cloud distributor Sherweb, giving MSPs across North America, the UK and Ireland access to all of its products via the Sherweb Marketplace. Huntress’s platform and AI-assisted SOC address the needs of security and IT teams of all sizes through the provision of Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools and Security Awareness Training (SAT). Matthew Cassar, Co-CEO of Sherweb, said: “As Huntress’ first global cloud distributor, we’re proud to bring their powerful security solutions to partners in North America through our growing marketplace and to MSPs in Europe through MicroWarehouse, our Irelandbased subsidiary. Together, we’re helping IT solution providers protect clients of all sizes and adapt to the industry’s fast-changing demands.” www.huntress.com … Edinburgh AV Hub opened by Midwich Midwich Group has opened an expanded AV Hub in Edinburgh for hands-on demonstrations, events and training. The 3,000sqft facility at Westcott House, Ferrymuir in South Queensferry provides a permanent showcase for AV, UC and security solutions from vendor partners of Group entities DVS, Nimans Security, Invision, Pulse and Midwich. Russell Taylor, Account Director at Midwich UK&I, said: “The AV Hub has always been about creating a space where customers can experience the best technology, backed by the strength of our vendor partnerships. This new, larger location allows us to showcase more solutions than ever before, helping our customers explore innovations that can transform their projects. The AV Hub has become a trusted destination for the Scottish AV community, and we’re proud to build on that reputation with this exciting next chapter.” [email protected] www.midwich.com Midwich to distribute X2O Media in UK&I Midwich is bringing a more immersive experience to higher education and corporate training organisations through a new UK&I distribution agreement with X2O Media, a worldwide provider of hybrid collaboration solutions that unite inroom and remote attendees in one virtual space. Supported by integrated hardware, room design and space planning, the X2O OneRoom unified communications platform provides a more engaging experience by showing remote attendees life-size, with audio and visual aligned to each user’s virtual ‘seat’ in the room. Midwich Commercial Director Lee Harris says Midwich’s expertise in hardware selection and integration can help partners build, install and support a fully integrated end-to-end solution with the X2O OneRoom platform at its core. He said: “X2O OneRoom sets a new standard for hybrid learning and training by putting every participant on an equal footing – whether in the room or joining remotely. Partnering with X2O Media allows us to deliver a complete solution that combines cutting-edge software with the right hardware and space design, giving our customers the tools to create engaging, inclusive environments.” www.midwich.com (L-R) Midwich’s Lee Harris and X2O Media’s Jamie Gryce at the product launch at Midwich HQ Arrow and AlgoSec extend existing partnership to UK&I Global technology provider Arrow Electronics and cybersecurity specialist AlgoSec have extended their existing distribution agreement in the Netherlands to the UK and Ireland. The move will give Arrow channel partners in the UK&I access to AlgoSec’s advanced network security policy management solutions offering unified visibility, risk analysis and automated security policy changes across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Anthony Dobson, Regional Director, Sales for Arrow’s enterprise computing solutions business in the UK&I, said: “As organisations face growing pressure to secure complex hybrid environments while maintaining agility and compliance, automation of security policy management has never been more critical. This agreement broadens Arrow’s security portfolio and the choice of advanced solutions available to channel partners, enabling them to deliver integrated offerings to accelerate digital transformation.” arrow.com Anthony Dobson
DISTRIBUTOR NEWS 01732 759725 ...continued 06 Crayon inks Zendesk deal IT services company Crayon, recently merged with SoftwareOne, is strengthening its global distribution capabilities with the signing of an agreement to distribute Zendesk’s AI-powered customer experience (CX) technologies to customers and partners in more than 70 countries. Gudmundur Adalsteinsson, Chief Partner & Sales Officer at SoftwareOne, said: “This is a landmark agreement for Crayon and a natural evolution of our mission to bring best-in-class technology to our partners and customers globally. Customer experience is a core driver of digitalisation and by aligning with Zendesk we’re ensuring that businesses from startups to global enterprises have access to the right tools to deliver exceptional service.” Under the agreement Crayon will offer the full suite of Zendesk service and support products, including Zendesk Support, Chat, Talk, Guide, and AI-powered automation tools, plus tailored onboarding, technical support, training and commercial enablement for resellers and MSPs. www.crayon.com www.zendesk.com TP-Link added to Oprema security offering Security distributor Oprema has added TP-Link’s extensive range of networking equipment and CCTV products to its product offering, with UK next-day delivery from its extensive stockholding. Products include the VIGI NDAAcompliant professional surveillance system and Omada by TP-Link cloud-managed networking solution, which integrates controllers, access points, switches and gateways into a unified Software Defined Networking (SDN) platform, giving customers a highly scalable network with centralised cloud management. Oprema is backing these products with strong technical support, including the delivery of OCNA training (for Omada) and VCSA training (for VIGI) in a new, state-of-the-art Innovation Centre within the distributor’s 106,000 sq. ft. Newport warehouse. … Vertiv and PNY partner to accelerate AI adoption Vertiv, a leader in critical digital infrastructure and a Solution Advisor in the NVIDIA Partner Network, has entered into a distribution agreement with PNY Technologies, a leading provider of NVIDIA-based solutions in Europe, Middle East and Africa. By bringing together Vertiv’s high-density power and cooling solutions with PNY’s advanced AI computing capabilities, the partnership makes it easier for SIs and resellers in EMEA to acquire and deploy the necessary infrastructure for today’s GPU‑intensive workloads, helping to accelerate AI adoption across the region. Alex Brew, Vice President of EMEA regional sales at Vertiv, said: “The transformative growth of AI workloads demands an ecosystem approach to help customers scale efficiently while maintaining optimal performance. By combining our critical power and cooling portfolio with PNY’s expertise in NVIDIA‑based solutions, we are empowering SIs across EMEA to build accelerated, high‑density and energy-efficient AI environments for their customers.” Vertiv.com PNY.com/en-eu Syndico appointed UK distributor by Pocketalk Pocketalk, provider of a suite of real-time translation solutions that enable healthcare, education, emergency services, retail and enterprise professionals to overcome language barriers, has appointed Syndico as its first authorised UK distributor. Matt Steel, Pocketalk Business Development Manager UK, said: “With an increased focus on improving language communication in all sectors in the UK and ever more healthcare, emergency service and education settings reaching out for translation support, we knew it was time to engage a trusted, authorised reseller and Syndico is the perfect fit. We’re excited to work together to expand our presence in these sectors, helping those that are hindered by language barriers find a solution that saves time, money and stress, while offering a safe and trusted translation solution.” Sam Ogles, Syndico’s Commercial and Marketing Development Manager, added: “Syndico specialises in helping brands to bring their products to market via an extensive and skilled channel of resellers, especially brands that solve known pain points in key industries. We focus on products and solutions that boost efficiency, improve safety, save costs and improve decisionmaking – Pocketalk ticks all those boxes.” Sam Ogles, Syndico with Matt Steel, Pocketalk Proofpoint added to Westcon-Comstor AWS Marketplace programme Proofpoint has become the latest software vendor to join Westcon-Comstor’s AWS Marketplace programme, alongside the likes of Check Point Software, Cisco, CrowdStrike, F5, Juniper Networks, Palo Alto Networks and Zscaler. The extension of Proofpoint’s existing relationship with Westcon-Comstor will enable the distributor’s partners in the UK and Europe to buy Proofpoint security solutions from Westcon-Comstor via private listings and sell them directly to their customers in a frictionless, end-to-end process entirely within AWS Marketplace. Launched last year, Westcon-Comstor’s AWS Marketplace programme provides partners with a streamlined and simplified route to transacting on AWS Marketplace, along with specialist support and advisory and consulting services from a dedicated in-house team. Recent enhancements include multi-currency functionality and flexible payment solutions for AWS Marketplace transactions. Daniel Hurel, Senior Vice President, Westcon EMEA Go-To-Market at Westcon-Comstor, said: “As enduser buying behaviour evolves, hyperscaler marketplaces – led by AWS Marketplace – are becoming the preferred software procurement route. Our AWS Marketplace programme equips partners to meet this demand, offering a seamless way to transact and deliver value.” www.westconcomstor.com Daniel Hurel Gudmundur Adalsteinsson SoftwareOne Jérôme Bélan (l), CEO at PNY EMEA, with Alex Brew, Vice President of EMEA regional sales at Vertiv
01732 759725 Adam Blackwell, Director of AI, Server and Advanced Technology at Hammer Distribution, a specialist distributor of enterprise server and storage solutions, advises businesses to future-proof their operations with a robust, custom-built Hybrid Infrastructure model, pointing out that on-premises control is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ but essential. “When one massive centralised system fails, an entire digital economy built on convenience finds its resilience is an afterthought. Moments like this, mirroring previous mass disruptions, show the vast, crippling power one single organisation can hold over global commerce. Redundancy and diversification are not just IT best practices, they are a fundamental business continuity imperative.” Hammer Distribution says it can help such businesses keep core applications and sensitive data running, independent of public cloud stability, with the provision of on-premises datacentre-ready servers, powered by leading-edge technologies from partners such as Seagate, Quantum, Western Digital and DataCore. Blackwell added: “Ask yourself: if your critical systems went offline for an hour, what would it cost you? Relying on a single point of failure is an unacceptable business risk in today’s always-on world.” A wake-up call His words are echoed by Stewart Laing, CEO of Asanti Data Centres, who describes the outages as a wake‑up call for businesses that are over-reliant on one public cloud provider and lack robust resilience planning – failings that were highlighted in a survey for a recent Asanti white paper in which 72% of organisations said they had experienced significant downtime due to resilience failures in the last 12 months, with 60% struggling to restore normal operations. Laing said: “Many organisations have embraced public cloud as a silver bullet, but the AWS outage shows what happens when you build everything on one foundation. This is not just about uptime. It’s about resilience by design, and asking the hard question: where was your business continuity plan? “This outage doesn’t just hit organisations directly hosted on AWS, it ripples through entire supply chains. Even businesses that believe they’re insulated are likely to be affected when their third-party suppliers go down. With most organisations relying on multiple vendors, many of which depend on AWS behind the scenes, the result is a cascading, system-wide impact that’s far bigger than a single point of failure.” Global disruption Douglas Wadkins, CTO of Opengear, warns that growing demand for AI could increase the risk of outages and the time taken to recover from one. He said: “The AWS outage underscores just how vulnerable global supply chains and digital networks have become. Even a single failure in a cloud region or streaming backbone can ripple across the stack, impacting everything from data movement to the models and applications that rely on it. “The consequences of downtime are severe and immediate – lost revenue and customer trust, with potential knock-on effects in today’s fragile macro-economic and geopolitical environment. Simply reacting after the event isn’t enough. Recovery times remain too high because responses are often manual, fragmented and slow. “When primary paths fail, securing access and rolling back systems can take critical hours. And this will only become more complex as AI demands grow, creating more points of potential failure. Building network resilience is essential. The ability to access networks remotely, isolate the issue and remediate it proactively is what prevents localised incidents from turning into global disruptions.” Dangerous & negligent Jamil Ahmed, Distinguished Engineer at Solace, pioneer of a multi-cloud, event-driven approach, added his voice to calls for a multi‑cloud strategy. He said: “Even as cloud technology evolves, failures within the system will inevitably happen. ‘One-of-a-kind’ extremely rare outages or issues continue to plague every service provider from time to time, which is why the need to store valuable information on multiple provider services, known as an event mesh, has arisen. “From a business perspective, there are no excuses for having a single cloud provider. It’s multicloud all the way, treating cloud as commoditised compute, not building apps and services that are tied to knowing what cloud they’re in. Unfortunately, when businesses first introduced the cloud into their strategy about 10 years ago, they made multi-provider usage a problem to solve later on. It is now ‘later on,’ and the strategy of using one cloud service is demonstrably dangerous and negligent. Anyone adopting cloud without thought for multi-cloud on Day 1, should opt into an event mesh system or be fearful for that next ‘extremely rare’ event.” Digital sovereignty Hot on the heels of the AWS outage, problems with Microsoft Azure at the end of October added more grist to the mill. Raphael Auphan, COO at encrypted solutions provider Proton, said: “For the second time in two weeks, we’ve seen a massive portion of the internet taken offline thanks to the mistakes of a solitary tech giant. As if we needed reminding, this is further proof that relying on a handful Last month’s outages at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure once again highlighted the vulnerability of organisations that rely on a single cloud platform. How should businesses and Government respond? We ask the experts Ask the experts 08 ASK THE EXPERTS Adam Blackwell Stewart Laing Jamil Ahmed
technologyreseller.co.uk of major cloud providers creates serious vulnerabilities across the internet and puts whole economies at risk in the process. “Just like the AWS outage, Azure’s latest failure showed how easily the ripples from an outage can spread globally and highlighted the danger of our global dependence on US technology. When the whole world relies on tech from a tiny number of companies from one country, then the whole world is vulnerable. The only answer for the UK, Europe and elsewhere is to prioritise digital sovereignty, in other words to develop their own native services. We need to stand on our own two feet if we’re going to have any chance in the future.” Questions for Government Mark Boost, CEO of UK cloud provider Civo, advocates greater commitment to sovereign cloud, especially by Government and critical infrastructure providers. He said: “We should be asking the obvious question: why are so many critical UK institutions, from HMRC to major banks, dependent on a data centre on the east coast of the US? Sovereignty means having control when incidents like this happen, but too much of ours is currently outsourced to foreign cloud providers. The AWS outage is yet another reminder that when you put all your eggs in one basket, you’re gambling with critical infrastructure. When a single point of failure can take down HMRC, it becomes clear that our reliance on a handful of US tech giants has left core public services dangerously exposed. “The more concentrated our infrastructure becomes, the more fragile and externally governed it is. Europe can’t afford to keep walking a digital tightrope without a safety net. If Europe is serious about digital sovereignty, it needs to accelerate its shift towards domestically governed and diversified infrastructure. Governments and regulators have a responsibility to create the conditions for real competition. That means rethinking procurement, funding sovereign alternatives and making resilience a baseline requirement.” 09 ASK THE EXPERTS The dominance of the hyperscalers and US technology giants took some of the gloss off the $40 billion investment in the UK announced by Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, Nvidia, Salesforce and others during Trump's State Visit. But was Nick Clegg, as reported in the Guardian, right to dismiss their investment packages as ‘sloppy seconds from Silicon Valley’ and ‘mutton dressed as lamb’? Was he right to say that that investment would have happened anyway and that it could damage the UK tech sector by increasing reliance on US tech giants? Stewart Laing, CEO, Asanti Data Centres: “We shouldn’t dismiss a $40 billion investment in the UK as second-rate, but what we do need to clarify is how much of that is genuinely new investment and how much is existing or previously announced projects being re-packaged as something fresh. “What we do know is that Microsoft has pledged approximately $30bn over the next few years for AI and cloud infrastructure in the UK. There are also new commitments from Nvidia, Google (£5bn) and AI infrastructure plans in growth zones. “However, our recent research shows that UK IT leaders are increasingly cautious: 52% say they plan to reduce reliance on US cloud providers, with 95% citing data sovereignty, 93% data residency and concerns about jurisdiction under laws such as the US CLOUD Act as reasons. Repatriation of workloads is underway in many cases. “So, while the headline numbers are encouraging, the key test will be transparency: which portions of the $40bn are new, which are already in motion, how much will be invested (versus planned) and how do those investments align with UK sovereignty, control and infrastructure capabilities.” Mark Boost, CEO of Civo: "Any investment into our tech sector is worth celebrating and will help accelerate the AI ambitions of countless British businesses. That said, even though the ‘Tech Prosperity Deal’ is an impressive deal with a catchy name, I have to question which side is prospering more. “If the UK isn’t careful, sooner or later the majority of our critical AI infrastructure will be owned by Big Tech. The US CLOUD Act means none of the ‘Big Three’ providers can offer true digital sovereignty, leaving British businesses and public bodies completely at the mercy of American data laws. “Clearly, international investment is vital for our AI industries, and a package of this size will do a huge amount of good for quantum, AI and nuclear projects. However, we should also be building up our homegrown tech ecosystem and setting harder limits on the extent to which we’re willing to allow overseas control of our digital infrastructure. If not, we risk sacrificing our future digital sovereignty on the altar of short‑term gains.” James Walsh, Founder of Sytronix: “Any investment in the UK’s technology and AI market is good in some respects. However, recently there have been several high-profile clashes between the UK and US over free speech, information dissemination, the role of VPNs and anonymisation, as well as the powers our governments have in requesting data or operational changes to those in the other jurisdiction. “I’m not sure how this investment will impact the regulatory environment or how available the UK public’s data is to US entities, but investment in UK data centre infrastructure is desperately needed. We’re leagues behind in the AI race and we need to close that distance. Just look at Taiwan, China, South Korea and the US, where there are so many innovative AI startups and hardware manufacturers. We’re forced to use their software and hardware because there simply isn’t an option from the UK. Even if there was, factors like the cost of electricity in the UK would price them out of the country. “Incentives for domestic R&D and nurturing homegrown startups are essential to combat this and just as important as investment in fibre and silicon. That means creating the conditions for UK-based companies to scale globally, rather than simply being acquired by overseas giants, and ensuring that researchers, engineers and startup founders see the UK as a place where their ideas have the conditions to thrive, not just survive. Without that the UK risks becoming a well‑connected consumer of AI, rather than a genuine creator and exporter of it. “When the investment was announced, David Hogan, Nvidia’s head of enterprise sales for the Europe regions, was quoted as saying “This will truly make the UK an AI maker, not an AI taker”. If that is the case, I’m glad the government is taking steps to help the UK catch up with our competitors. But I’m tentative nonetheless, because I’m wondering what the US is getting in return for such a significant investment.” TALKING POINT Mark Boost James Walsh
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12 01732 759725 RESELLER NEWS Signum acquired by Vision33 Vision33, an ERP solutions specialist headquartered in California, is strengthening its position as a dominant SAP Business One partner in the UK with the acquisition of Signum Solutions in a transaction advised on by KBS Corporate. Signum provides digital transformation services to growing companies with a strong focus on SAP Business One. MD Lindsay Pointon, who co-founded the Daresbury, Cheshire-based company in 2003, said: “We are proud to join the Vision33 team and contribute to their continued leadership position in the SAP Business One space. This acquisition provides us with the opportunity to scale our offerings and deliver more value to our customers, especially in the areas of SAP Business One cloudhosted solutions on Amazon Web Services (AWS), automation and integration, AI-driven innovations and value-add programs like Vision33’s TOTAL Care support.” Tony Whalen, Vision 33 President, added: “It’s an exciting time for businesses running SAP Business One as the solution continues to thrive through SAP’s firm commitment and ongoing investments. This acquisition highlights Vision33’s dedication to driving long-term success for more UK customers with SAP Business One, as we also leverage cloud technology, AI and automation to provide even greater value.” … Air IT Group embarks on new phase with rebrand Air IT has embarked on the next stage of its evolution with a rebrand to Air IT Group to reflect the part that acquisitions have played in its growth into a full-service MSP offering 24/7 IT support, cyber security, cloud, modern workplace and business intelligence solutions with nine offices across the UK, 2,000-plus SME clients and more than 450 staff, including a specialist information and cyber security division. Following a period of rapid expansion through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, Air IT Group has implemented a more customer-focused strategy with a unified technology offering, underpinned by investment in AI and automation to deliver a more personalised and connected customer experience. CEO Barney Taylor said: “We’ve made significant investments in building true inhouse expertise across automation, AI and cyber security, building a single intelligent technology stack that gives SMEs the platform they need to grow.” AI-powered automation now sits at the heart of the Group’s operations, including a self-service IT desk that enables customers to find a resolution to their issues within minutes, freeing up teams to spend more time on resolving complex technical challenges. More than 200 clients have already benefitted from the automated self-service solution. Pete Pendlebury, Chief Automation and AI Officer at Air IT Group, said: “By embedding automation throughout the organisation, we’ve fundamentally changed how we work with our customers. We now execute more than 161 million actions per month using Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which is more than 60 per second. This frees up our teams to spend more time delivering value to our customers, improving their experience through faster, more consistent service, instantly available 24/7.” https://www.airit.co.uk/ … Presidio boosts UK&I presence with Ergo acquisition Presidio, a global provider of infrastructure, cybersecurity and digital transformation solutions and services, is strengthening its presence in the UK and Ireland with the acquisition of Ergo, current Microsoft Partner of the Year in Ireland. The combination of Presidio UK & Ireland and Ergo is expected to create a more powerful, agile and innovative organisation with strong digital transformation capabilities, deep Microsoft expertise and an expanded ability to serve local and multinational clients. Founded in 1993, Ergo delivers enterprisegrade managed services and solutions spanning cloud, security, data & AI, licensing and IT resourcing. It is an Azure Expert Intercity joins MISA Birmingham-headquartered MSP Intercity has become a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA). Established in 2018, MISA brings together Microsoft leaders and security vendors to collaborate on combatting security threats and creating a safer environment for customers. Intercity’s managed SOC leverages the Microsoft Security stack to deliver comprehensive 24/7/365 security, including Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM to detect and report threats in real time and Microsoft Defender for XDR to contain and isolate cyber breaches. Intercity CEO Charlie Blakemore said: “Joining MISA is a great milestone for us because it underlines the work our team is already doing every day to keep our customers safe. Working together with Microsoft means we can contain and isolate potential breaches before they can spread.” www.intercity.technology Wavenet deepens Zoom and 8x8 partnerships Wavenet has enhanced its CX and enterprise communications capabilities by strengthening relationships with two leaders in the space. As part of a strategic partnership with business communications platform provider 8x8, Wavenet, 8x8’s 2025 EMEA Resell Partner of the Year and EMEA Contact Centre Partner of the Year, will now deliver the full 8x8 Platform for CX. This includes 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams, 8x8 Unified Communications, 8x8 CPaaS solutions and 8x8 Contact Centre. In addition to its growing partnership with 8x8, Wavenet recently qualified as a Zoom Platinum Partner – the highest tier in Zoom’s partner programme – enabling it to offer Zoom’s marketleading suite of solutions, including Zoom Phone, Zoom Contact Centre and Zoom Workplace. Barry Ward, Director of Contact Centre, Mobile and Unified Communications solutions at Wavenet, said: “Zoom’s focus on customer experience and innovation aligns perfectly with Wavenet’s strategic direction. This collaboration allows us to offer our customers a truly modern, AI-enhanced solution that complements their existing investments, particularly for those using legacy systems like Mitel.” www.wavenet.co.uk
RESELLER NEWS technologyreseller.co.uk 13 Managed Services Partner and holds top-tier accreditations with Broadcom and Dell. Bob Cagnazzi, CEO of Presidio, said: “Acquiring Ergo marks an important step in Presidio’s European growth. It will enhance our capabilities in a key market, add proven leadership and expertise and position us to deliver even greater value to clients across the region.” Ergo CEO Paul McCann added: “Our team has built something special, and being a part of Presidio will give us the resources and scale to accelerate our growth while maintaining the culture and client-first approach that defines us. This is about taking what works and making it even stronger.” www.presidio.com … Merger creates new force in IT services sector Technology services provider Trustmarque and Ultima Business Solutions, a specialist in managed services and automation, have formally completed their merger, creating a new force in the IT services sector with 1,000 employees, more than 3,000 customers and a projected Gross Invoiced Income of £1 billion. The merged entity’s unified leadership team led by CEO Simon Williams and CFO Jamie Beaumont (from Ultima) will now start integrating both parts of the business to provide public and private sector customers with more integrated IT services in areas such as cloud, cybersecurity, automation and emerging AI use cases. Trustmarque and Ultima will continue to operate under their existing brands, with a new corporate brand and identity due to be launched next year. Jamie Beaumont, CFO of the new Group, said: “We’re already seeing new joint opportunities emerge, from enabling multicloud optimisation to delivering next-gen AI-powered operations for clients across sectors. Our integration teams have laid the groundwork for a seamless transition, and we are excited to move forward as one team with one mission: to help our clients thrive in a fast-changing digital world.” … Kinly aiming to raise AV security baseline with freely available framework Kinly, a provider of AV integration and collaboration services, has published an industry-first, verification-ready framework to help organisations secure AV environments, from design through to operation. Freely available to customers, partners and competitors, the Kinly AV Security Standards framework is designed to raise the security baseline for AV solutions and establish a common benchmark for how AV security should be approached across the sector, from embedding security into statements of work and design documentation, through to enforcing MFA, strong password management, centralising logs and testing recovery. The framework also supports regular auditing and KPI tracking so that organisations can measure progress and maintain accountability over time. Each control includes a security objective and verification method and aligns with internationally recognised references including ISO/IEC 27001, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and CIS Controls. Don Gibson, Global Chief Information Security Officer at Kinly, said: “This is about practical, verifiable steps that any organisation can take to harden devices, segment networks, enforce strong identities and keep systems evergreen. By opening up our AV Security Standards, we want to help customers, partners and peers reduce risk, strengthen supply-chain resilience and build trust in every space where people meet and work.” The Kinly AV Security Standards are available at https://indd.adobe.com/ view/fb366a11-20ea-4f58-aa00cd0c1cb43352. continued... ANS boosts AI-readiness Digital transformation company ANS is continuing to strengthen its AI-readiness capabilities with two acquisitions in two months and successful third-party validation of its AI management practices. Following audits of its practices, ANS has become the first UK company to achieve ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), indicating its compliance with the new global standard for trustworthy AI management systems, covering governance, regulatory alignment and ethical adoption. CEO Richard Thompson said: “We’re always pushing the boundaries of meaningful AI adoption, but it’s essential that this is done with responsibility and trust. Becoming the first UK business to achieve the ISO 42001 from UKAS is a statement of how we are shaping the future of AI with accountability and transparency.” The Manchester-headquartered company is also boosting its AI capabilities and expertise in Microsoft solutions through acquisitions. Following that of data engineering consultancy Makutu in September, it has now acquired Sci-Net Business Solutions, an Oxford-based Microsoft Gold Partner. Its 65-strong team of technology consultants, cloud specialists and developers enhances ANS’s existing Microsoft expertise with in-depth knowledge of Microsoft ERP, CRM and cloud infrastructure solutions, including 365 Business Central, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, CRM and Microsoft Azure. Richard Thompson said: “Sci-Net’s Business Central expertise will further expand our already strong Microsoft offering. Making understanding customers’ problems the first step to any solution, Sci-Net’s approach aligns with our own ambitions to get all UK businesses ready for AI. Our consolidation of some of the sector’s leading Microsoft-focused digital transformation partners puts us in the strongest position to equip organisations across the UK for an AI-enabled future.” https://www.ans.co.uk/ Richard Thompson Logicalis expands cybersecurity offering with new solutions and services Logicalis is addressing the growing need for proactive cybersecurity with an expanded portfolio of Intelligent Security Solutions and Advisory services designed to help customers align with frameworks such as NIST, DORA, NIS2 and the Cyber Resilience Act. These include enhancements to its Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) service, which provides continuous monitoring of global threat sources, from darknet activity and leaked credentials to malicious domains and suspicious VPN or email logins, and the introduction of Pentesting-as-a-Service, which allows organisations to schedule penetration testing on‑demand to identify vulnerabilities across systems, applications, APIs and social engineering campaigns. Mike Fry, Infrastructure Data & Security Solutions Director at Logicalis UK&I, said: “Cybersecurity attacks are no longer a future concern, they are today’s reality. It is unrealistic for organisations to assume that even with the most robust defences they won’t be targeted and possibly breached. That is why we are accelerating delivery of our Intelligent Security solution to UK customers, through our European Security Operations Centre (SOC). With Pentesting-as-a-Service, Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) and expanded Vulnerability Management capabilities, our customers can realise the power of cyber resilience.”
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