CCOOMMMMSS N NEEWWSS
BYTES... FORRESTER
ONECLOUD
Avaya has aligned its product portfolio
under the Avaya OneCloud name. The
company says this evolved branding
refl ects its multi-cloud application
ecosystem, and the future direction of
customer and employee experiences
SMARTWAY2
Workplace scheduling company
Smartway2 has launched a new partner
programme. The company has said this
is ideally suited to partners involved
in smart offi ce design, agile working,
AV integration, or some other aspect of
improving the way people work.
SECURING NHS
Softcat has been included in a new
two-year NHS cyber security framework.
The national framework is worth an
estimated £250 million and will provide
the UK public sector with simplifi ed
access to approved cyber security
service options.
FORECASTS TECH
SPENDING COULD
DECLINE BY 9%
Forrester predicts that, due to
the coronavirus and resulting
recessions, tech spending in
Europe will decline by 5% to
7% in 2020 from 2019 levels in
the most optimistic case.
Three countries – the UK,
France, and Germany – were
evaluated, with the UK found to
be the most vulnerable out of
the three, with a deeper decline
in 2020 and continued, but
slightly less negative, declining
growth in 2021. France and
Germany, meanwhile, are said
to be more likely to experience
modest recoveries in 2021.
Across all three countries,
the impact of the coronavirus
on tech spending will vary
depending on their approach to
managing the pandemic, their
economic stabilisation
programmes, and pre-existing
economic and political
conditions.
Duncan Jones, VP and
principal analyst at Forrester,
commented, “With limited
budgets, CIOs will have to make
tough choices between rival
claims for priority. Competition
for business will be tough, so
the top priority should be
operational improvements that
really matter to customers.
Great deals will be available for
CIOs that are willing and able to
invest in innovation. However,
risk mitigation is also
important, such as planning
what you will do if one of your
smaller software providers is
unable to survive a big drop in
its cash infl ow.
“For the tech industry,
there’s an opportunity to put
long term customer
relationships ahead of
short-term revenue. Customers
won’t forgive vendors that hold
them now to contracts they no
longer need and cannot
afford.”
Enreach Meetings announces new features
ENREACH MEETINGS, A video conferencing platform for SMBs, has
added a Stickers feature. These are a collection of icons that can be
used to convey opinions and sentiment in virtual meetings. The
company says these are designed to mimic non-verbal cues that are
used in face-to-face meetings.
A standard pack of Stickers will be introduced to Enreach Meetings
this month, and there will be a series additional packs specifi cally for
popular methodologies, including Agile, Scrum, and Holacracy.
Enreach Meetings has also enhanced the user experience with the
introduction of ‘Active Speaker’. With Active Speaker, the person
speaking is larger than other participants’ video images, to optimise
sharing of information to the rest of the audience, as well as being
another way to change the screen regularly and keep people visually
engaged.
The video conference software is easy to access also from any
web browser, as well as tablets and smartphones, without the need to
install an app. The company says more features will follow in the
coming months, including: presence and ability to customise your
reachability (even on incoming mobile calls) when in a video
conference, bandwidth optimisation, more integrations and a revised
user interface.
Motorola Solutions acquires Pelco for $110M in cash
MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS HAS
announced it has completed its
acquisition of Pelco, Inc., a global
provider of video security
solutions based in Fresno,
California.
The acquisition signals
Motorola Solutions’ continued
investment in video security and
analytics to complement its
existing product portfolio.
Greg Brown, chairman and
CEO, Motorola Solutions,
commented “Video continues to
play a more powerful role in
enabling safer cities and
securing businesses around the
world. Pelco’s track record of
innovation, internationally
recognised brand, global
channel and customer installed
base enable us to further expand
our global footprint with
enterprise and public safety
customers.”
Pelco designs, develops and
distributes end-to-end video
technology, including video
security cameras and video
management system software.
The company’s scalable
solutions and commitment to
service delivery enables
customers of all sizes to mitigate
risk, increase operational
effi ciencies and enhance safety.
8 | Comms Business Magazine | September 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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