This week in the ICT Channel...

Comms Dealer magazine rounds up the top channel news that broke during the week.....

FluidOne nets Orca IT to grow north west footprint

FluidOne has acquired Orca IT to fuel its ambitions of trebling in size over the next five years. This is its first buy since securing funding from Pemberton in June 2024 and ninth since the MBO led by Russell Horton in 2019.

The deal introduces a local presence in the north west for Fluid One and bolster its IT and cyber security managed services offering. It takes the groups revenues to ￡113m and employee count to 540 across nine office locations.

Russell Horton , FluidOne CEO, said: “We will bolster our IT Centre of Excellence with Orca IT’s expertise and to provide support for Orca’s team to scale their business and deliver wider FluidOne offerings to their customers.”

Mark Tunstall , Finance and Managing Director, Orca IT, added: “With the backing of FluidOne, we will be able to extend our reach within professional services, including Accountants.

“By becoming a regional branch of FluidOne’s, we’ll be able to build on our strengths in IT managed services, drawing on support from the group and adding further cyber security services, as well as connectivity, mobile and unified communications.”

Post-acquisition, FluidOne’s CEO, Russell Horton, is to become Chairman of Orca IT, with FluidOne Directors Simon Ward and Chris Rogers also becoming board directors.

CNA Awards 2024 - Three weeks to go - book your table now!

The Comms National Awards, the channel’s most coveted awards extravaganza and with less than one month to go, now is the time to book your table at the most extravagant awards event of the year!

In addition to tables and places, we have a limited number of VIP table packages where you can entertain your team and your customers in style with the best seats in the house! We also have sponsorship packages which deliver a fantastic amount of branding profile before, during and after the awards. Message Heather Miles to book your place or visit Comms National Awards (cnawards.com) for further details.

The event will take place at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster, on 26th September 2024, celebrating stand-out MSPs, channel partners, vendors, carriers, service providers and distributors. Don't miss out!

eve Wholesale repositions as growth partner

eve Networks has rebranded as eve Wholesale to reflect a transition from technology vendor to reseller growth partner. ?

This transformation follows a strategic acquisition that has expanded eve Wholesale’s cloud and data centre capabilities, while adding new talent to their team.

The company has introduced a new Managed Office offering to provide a full suite of value-add support services. It is also streamlining its approach to licensing with the previous four options have been simplified into two: Prime and Base.

Steve Barclay , MD of eve Wholesale, expressed his enthusiasm for the rebrand: "We’ve always been tuned in to our partners' needs, and this rebrand marks the beginning of something bigger,?a new chapter focused on helping them make more money, run lean, and connect with customers."

Giacom adds Barracuda to cyber security offering

Giacom partners will now have access to Barracuda Networks ’s cloud-first security solutions following a new strategic partnership.

The collaboration has been accelerated by Giacom’s acquisition of cloud services provider intY and responds to growing feedback from partners.

This deepens Giacom’s cyber security offering with Barracuda’s SASE solution, SecureEdge, as well as its Managed XDR and email security offerings.

Carl Oliver , Head of Product at Giacom, said: “Barracuda’s clear focus on partnership and enablement mirrors our own at Giacom, and we share their commitment to providing a first-class experience and support for all of our partners.”

Zyxel enhances MSP programme with AI

Zyxel Networks UK has updated its partner programme Nebula with AI-driven capabilities.

The AI and ML features will help partners to identify and address issues before they become actual problems. This enables MSPs to manage more customers and locations and thus scale and grow their businesses.

Further enhancements make it easier for partners to meet the integrated digital security needs of their customers.

Zyxel is looking to recruit additional partners to the programme.

Rachel Rothwell , Senior Regional Director, UK&I for Zyxel Networks, said: “We want to help our partners write the next chapter with an enhanced programme that gives them an even better experience and an AI-driven platform that will help them scale and grow.”

She identifies that MSPs should be starting to concentrate on the SMB market. She added: “The MSP market is set to grow by 12 percent every year for the next three years?and most of that will come from SMBs.

“Awareness and confidence are growing but crucially, SMBs want managed services to be provided by their trusted or local IT solutions provider.”

Hybrid working remains SME priority says Six Degrees

Developing an IT infrastructure that allows for long-term hybrid working is the top objective for the next five years amongst IT decision-makers at SMEs according to new research from Six Degrees .

The majority (28%) plan to make it their number one priority, followed by increasing automation (27%), harnessing AI and machine learning to support business goals (26%), outsourcing IT operations (26%), and improving D&I within the IT team and wider business (26%).?

“The common link between each of these objectives is the desire to improve productivity and empower higher-performing teams,” comments Vincent DeLuca , CEO at?Six?Degrees.

“The top four objectives seek to do this by deploying new technology, implementing existing IT in new ways and by leveraging vast amounts of valuable data.”??

Surprisingly, cyber security was outside the top five, placing seventh amongst long-term priorities with 24%. Keeping one step ahead of cybercriminals ranked ninth with 22%.

DeLuca added: “Too many organisations still move their IT infrastructure to the cloud and think it will all be protected by default and design. Indeed, when asked directly, 42% of respondents said that cloud adoption has increased their security.”

Nimans unveils presentation and demonstration facilities

Nimans has opened presentation and demonstration facilities designed to enhance customer experiences and drive sales growth.

The presentation suite can host up to 85 people and offers space for sales meetings, customer presentations, and interactive workshops. This allows Nimans and its partners to showcase products and solutions on a large scale.

Its accompanying demonstration suite enables customers to experience video conferencing equipment first-hand, providing an opportunity to test and evaluate solutions in real-time.

"Our new facilities represent a significant investment in our customers' success," said Steve McIntyre , Marketing Director at Nimans. "By offering these immersive experiences, we're not just showcasing technology, we're demonstrating our commitment to our partners' growth and innovation."

Thanks for reading and we hope to see you back here next Friday for the latest news update. Be sure to subscribe at the top of this newsletter to get your copy.