A U.S. based Digital Marketing Agency is looking to base it’s European Headquarters in Lichfield, Staffordshire because there is already a base of Digital Marketing aware talent there. The U.S. inbound marketing leader stated that potential candidates needed to be D.A.R.C. This does not refer to hair colour or complexion or even mood. It is an acronym for – Digital, Analytical, Have social Reach ( i.e. they have established their own identity on the Internet via blogs and social media membership )  and marketing Chops. ( Chops is a slang word for technical skill if you have not come across it before ! ).

Typically young people in their late teens or early Twenties will have used Bebo, Facebook and some sort of Instant Messaging service to communicate with their friends. Fewer will be familiar with website design, Search Engine Optimisation ( S.E.O. ), blogging, social media networks other than Facebook e.g. Twitter, Linkedin and Google + and the concept of Inbound Marketing.

Inbound Marketing is a Digital Marketing strategy that, in simple terms, means – Be Found ( on the Internet using a website supported by blogs and social media ) for relevant search terms, Convert ( visitors to your website to leads e.g. get them to sign up to your email database ) and Analyse how effective you were in doing this and how you could improve going forward.

http://blog.sironaconsulting.com/sironasays/2010/03/dont-forget-about-your-social-media-mothership-your-blog.html

Blogs and Social media posts are some of the ways that you might ” drive ” visitors to your website where you will try and convert them ( to prospects and then customers ) through well designed landing pages and ” Call to Action ” buttons ( e.g. call us now and get a free internet marketing assessment and report ).

Your online presence is essentially your virtual marketing and salesforce and therefore it is appropriate to use similar techniques to manage your virtual team as you would do managing your physical team. ( Well, you would if you were running it properly ! )

So, the challenge with young people is to get them to understand that social media and instant messaging is not just for communicating with friends ( young people are often very strict and careful about who they connect with on social media – rightly – and so the concept of the ” Open Networker ” or someone who connects with everyone is somewhat alien to them ).

Digital Marketing also has to be placed in context with what ” older people ” are going to be familiar with in terms of marketing and they need some convincing that all this ” Internet stuff ” is actually going to work ( and produce a Return on Investment ).

Many U.S. based Digital Marketing companies are seeking a base in Europe and the typical options tend to be Southern Ireland ( Dublin area ), London Area and Belgium or Luxembourg. Inward Investment agencies like e.g. IDA Ireland are long established and have been set up ( with full government backing ) to attract foreign direct investment.

Lichfield’s establishment of a ” Silicon Crossroads ” in the Midlands area is therefore a considerable challenge. However Lichfield has many aspects in it’s favour in addition to the skills of it’s people. For example, it’s location is superb. The road, rail and air transport facilities are second to none. The creation of ( relevant ) content is one of the key requirements of the Inbound Digital Marketer and Lichfield has a rich heritage in this respect.

Start up Wahooly starts tomorrow ( Tuesday 31st January ) having used Klout to select it’s members. I realise that this is is all about as clear as mud at the moment !

Let’s start with Klout which is a company ( one of a few that are doing this ) that essentially grades your Internet influence. Here is Klout about Klout:

http://klout.com/#/understand

” Klout was founded in 2008 to help you measure and leverage your influence. We believe influence is the ability to drive action. For example, Oprah’s opinion on literature has inspired millions to read titles from her book club. But you don’t have to be Oprah to have influence. You influence your friend when she listens to a song you recommend on Facebook. You influence your coworker when he checks out an article you posted on LinkedIn and shares it with someone else. Social actions like these are a reflection of influence. ”

Klout uses a ” secret algorithm ” to measure people and brand influence.

A few month’s ago this algorithm was ” modified ” and a lot of people’s ” Klout score ” changed ( many for the worse ) generating considerable reaction from Klout ” members “.

A lot of people say ” Who are Klout and what right do they have to rank my influence ? ” I have my own issues with Klout including the fact that they have a lot of technical bugs that impact people’s scores.

Anyway – let’s get on to Wahooly. Wahooly is a start-up that aims to help start-ups by recruiting ” influential ” people to promote start-ups that they wish to support. In return the influencers get equity ( shares ) in the start-up. So, this is like hiring an Internet Marketing Expert ( Social Media Marketer ) and PR person and paying them in equity rather than hard cash.

Will it work ?? We shall see.

To be a member of Wahooly you needed to have a Klout score of 45 or above ( mine was at the time of selection but has fallen slightly since. I have been as high as 67 in the past ).

More on Wahooly’s use of Klout here:

http://www.launch.is/blog/wahooly-uses-klout-to-add-400-influencers-daily-who-earn-equ.html

I am therefore a founder member of Wahooly and a Wahooligan ( as they call it ).

Given that it has been very hard to raise start-up capital in the last few years there have been many new initiatives to help start-ups get going. Equity for influence is just the latest of them. There have, for example , been a whole host of crowd financing ( investing small amounts of money for small amounts of equity ) initiatives.

Obviously Wahooly has a presence on the main social media platforms:

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/wahooly?ref=ts&sk=wall

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Wahooligans/

Twitter

https://twitter.com/#!/TeamWahooly

Google +

https://plus.google.com/u/0/105465481469156419624/posts

Linkedin

etc

It is going to be an interesting experiment !!

Mattioli Woods

Are one of the UK’s leading providers of pension consultancy and wealth management services, advising over 4,000 clients throughout the UK and with funds under trusteeship in excess of £2.8 billion. By building long-term client relationships, thier aim is to provide trusted advice, high service standards and personalised delivery.

They provide integrated services for individuals, embracing pension consultancy, with a strong specialism in self-invested personal pension schemes and small self-administered pension schemes; personal investment and estate planning. For corporate clients, they provide a comprehensive range of employee benefits services. Principle services include:

• Self-invested personal pension schemes (SIPP)
• Small self-administered schemes (SSAS)
• Employee Benefits
• Personal Wealth Management

In the last 20 years, they have grown dynamically year-on-year and became a public company following a listing on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in November 2005. Founded on a strong culture of client care,  core services are targeted towards controlling directors, professional persons, owner-managed businesses and small to medium-sized PLCs.

The key difference between Mattioli Woods and many of our larger competitors is our hands-on, tailored approach. There is a genuine focus on providing the highest level of personal advice and maintaining close relationships with all clients, which has led to high levels of satisfaction, retention and referrals.

About

Introducing Mattioli Woods

Mattioli Woods is one of the UK’s leading providers of pension consultancy and wealth management services. They employ over 250 staff through Leicester, London, Aberdeen and Glasgow offices, administer over 2,900 SIPP schemes and 1,400 SSAS schemes and hold over £2.8 billion of assets under advice and administration.

By building long term client relationships, the aim is to provide trusted advice, high service standards and personalised delivery. They provide integrated wealth management services, incorporating pension consultancy with a strong focus on self-investment and employee benefits. Our wealth management services embrace pensions and personal investment, coupled with estate planning.

Principal functions, include:

• Self-invested personal pension schemes (SIPP)
• Small self-administered schemes (SSAS)
• Employee Benefits
• Personal Wealth Management

They provide  clients with an all-embracing and holistic approach designed to develop a clear strategy for clients’ financial plans, supported by sound investment and taxation initiatives. Clients want to be confident in the advice  given and for strategies to be administered quickly and efficiently, regular updates and review meetings are central to our communication process, to give reassurance.

Pension planning and clients’ wider wealth management issues cannot be developed effectively in isolation, particularly when there are so many competing demands on our clients’ income. They proudly claim to be a leader in the field of self-invested personal pensions and small self-administered schemes, and such arrangements are often central to  clients’ pension strategy. They take full account of the wider opportunities, including ISAs and other forms of personal investment; taxation and trust planning; and work with  clients to develop a balanced financial plan.

Peter MacLean, who sometimes refers to himself as a Director and other times as a Non-executive Chairman of 365iT plc, has called a General Meeting for Ordinary Shareholders on the 12th December 2011 at 10.00 in the company’s offices’s at 4 Cartel Business Centre, Stroudley Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG24 8FW.

This is to change the name of 365iT plc to Fox IT Holding plc and to re-register as a limited company.

Now, 365iT and Impera plc shareholders must be asking themselves how it is that they are invited to discuss and approve a change of name and company status but they didn’t get to vote on the sale of most of the companies that 365iT plc owned to LMS Capital; didn’t get to vote on who got their loan notes paid off and who didn’t and also didn’t get to vote on the fact that the name of the company would need to be changed to keep LMS Capital happy.

They were also not informed that these companies were being sold to LMS Capital at a time when approximately 37% of the shareholders ( known as the Raynes Party ) were asking that no further investments be made and the company split up. ( There will be a blog on what has happened at LMS Capital shortly ).

We can assume that MacLean thinks that he was acting within company law, the articles of association etc etc when he made all these decisions. Time will tell about that.

One of the good things about this General Meeting is that it gives oridinary shareholders the opportunity to meet one another and to discuss the recent events orchestrated by MacLean.

Business Health Warning !!

My advice to you for the future is:

Don’t invest in any company run by Peter MacLean.

Don’t sell your company to any company that MacLean is involved in.

The other ” Directors ” ( albeit non-executive ) of 365iT plc at the moment are Derek King ( also a Director of North West Equity and South East Growth Fund Managers Limited ) and Pieter Hooft ( also a Director of 365 ITMS Limited and others ). Presumably Mr Gourlay of Sussex Place  ( and others ) has resigned ??

Presumably Hooft was the contact at LMS Capital that was agreeing to buy the 365iT companies that were sold whilst LMS Capital itself was being asked to stop investing and split itself up and sell each company. ( In fact this is now the agreed strategy for LMS Capital – no further investments and a split up asap ).

More as we get it ……

LMS Capital has announced a General Meeting on the 30 November 2011 that will seal the fate of the newly formed 365 ITMS.

It looks like Robert Rayne has been thrown an olive branch and will be asked to stay on as  a Director of the company but who would believe a Board that knew that ( many of ) it’s shareholders wanted to dispose of companies within it’s portfolio but actually spent more funding the acquisition of the companies in 365 ITMS from 365iT plc ( formerly Impera plc ) ???

So you have part of LMS Capital talking to Robert Rayne and his team and another part of LMS Capital agreeing to fund another acquisition at the same time ??

It does not bode well for the future.

Clearly 365 ITMS is a company that is going to be broken up and the only question is when. So this is definately not a company that customers want to partner with on a long term basis.

Items 2, i to iv , are supposed to appease Robert Rayne and his fellow shareholders but with no timescales committed to are basically worthless whilst Item v allows the Board to continue spending money on existing investments.

At the end of the day, with around 37% of the shareholding, Robert Rayne will be sat in Board meetings powerless to do anything significant to speed up the disposal plans. It’s likely to be a very frustrating time for him.

However, as the Board are recommending that shareholders vote AGAINST the resolution to allow Robert Rayne to stay on the Board he may not have to suffer this frustration !!

LMS Capital Announcement.

London, 7 November 2011: LMS Capital plc (“LMS Capital” or the “Company”) announces that, following earlier announcements, a shareholder circular (the “Circular”) with resolutions to be voted on at the Company’s forthcoming General Meeting has today been filed with the UKLA and posted to shareholders.

In summary, the resolutions to be proposed are:

1. That a revised investment policy with the objective of conducting an orderly realisation of the assets of the Company be effected in a manner that seeks to achieve a balance between an efficient return of cash to shareholders and maximising the value of the Company’s investments.

2. That:

(i) the Company distribute surplus cash periodically to shareholders in a tax efficient manner with due regard to shareholders’ tax circumstances;

(ii) the Company manage its affairs such that existing capital commitments are ultimately eliminated;

(iii) the Company pursue a policy of asset realisation with a view to returning capital to members over as short a time period as practicable, having due regard to the maximisation of shareholder value;

(iv) the Company refrain from committing capital to any new investments; and

(v) the Board have discretion to make additional investments in existing assets in order to protect shareholder value.

3. That Robert Rayne remain on the Board as a director of the Company.

Further details of the resolutions are set out in the Circular, together with the background to and reasons for the general meeting of the Company to be held on 30 November 2011. The Circular also sets out the recommendations of the Board that shareholders vote IN FAVOUR of the first and second resolutions and AGAINST the third resolution to be proposed at the General Meeting.

The General Meeting of the Company will be held at One Vine Street, London, W1J 0AH at 11.00a.m. on 30 November 2011.

Here the “About Me ” page from the new 365 ITMS Limited website:

About Us

365 ITMS Limited is a new company formed by a management buyout, backed by LMS Capital plc, of a number of business divisions from 365 iT plc.

These business divisions deliver a range of technology solutions extending from unified communications to network and system infrastructure, security, business continuity and managed services.

The new company, 365 ITMS Limited is managed by Peter Howells who was the Managing Director and co-founder of 5i Limited, the unified communications specialist. Peter MacLean, Chairman and Chief Executive of 365 iT plc who also joins the board as Non-Executive Chairman will focus on corporate strategy and acquisitions.

Peter Howells, Managing Director of 365 ITMS said “Our aim is to become the trusted IT services supplier of choice for corporate businesses in the UK. Bringing together the separate divisions under one banner will provide us with one of the strongest portfolio of technologies and services possible and allow us to work closer with existing and new customers and business partners to achieve this goal.”

Howells added “Working with LMS Capital will not only ensure that we have the capital to fund organic growth but also provide access to a greater source of investment capital to acquire other businesses that will further strengthen our overall proposition in key areas of technology and services delivery.”

Commenting on the investment, Pieter Hooft, Managing Director UK Investments at LMS Capital, said “We are delighted to have the opportunity to be part of 365 ITMS Limited. Our due diligence has confirmed that the individual businesses are held in high regard by customers and key suppliers and we are confident that their integration into a single new company, under a management team that has a proven track record of profitable growth, will create an outstanding company that will take advantage of the rapidly changing IT landscape.”

For more information and background:

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2011/10/11/365it-365-itms-lms-capital-peter-maclean-robert-rayne-5i-and-shareholders-chat/

http://www.lmscapital.com/Ournews/tabid/64/Default.aspx

If you are a shareholder in 365iT plc ( 365it services.co.uk )  , LMS Capital, South East Growth Fund or Sussex Place Ventures then it’s been an interesting few weeks for you. As you may or may not know LMS Capital just acquired 365iT companies 5i Limited, ImperaData, Dynax and Secure Networks at a time when The Honourable Robert Rayne ( until recently Chairman of LMS Capital )  has led the ” Rayne Concert Party ” ( who own around 35% of LMS Capital ) in a bid to break up LMS Capital.

Following an earlier blog of mine shareholders in 365iT ( 365it services.co.uk ) have been contacting me to try to find out what exactly is going on at 365iT plc. All that shareholders have received is a letter from Peter MacLean that raises more questions than it answers. ( Particularly in the light of what is going on at LMS Capital ! ) Interestingly long standing ( long suffering ?? ) 365iT shareholders have said to me that the letter sent out late last month is typical of the sort of ” say quite a bit  but say nothing ” communications that they are used to.

We are all waiting with bated breath to see what the new company that comprises 5i Limited, ImperaData, Dynax and Secure Networks is oing to be called. Maybe it will just be ” part of LMS Capital ” until , if the ” Raynes Concert Party ” have their way, the LMS Capital companies are sold off again. ( I know – you are having trouble keeping up with this already !! ).

Don’t worry ! – this blog will help keep you informed on events at 365iT plc ( 365it services.co.uk ) and LMS Capital as and when they happen. I will also report on the upcoming meeting of 365iT shareholders – it will be very interesting to hear more about the history of Impera plc. Some of the shareholders have known Peter MacLean since he was at Guardian iT.

From what we can tell 365iT is now a debt free company which owns Fox I.T.

http://www.foxit.net/pages/about/investors.shtml

Here’s the blurb for investors from the ( new ) 365iT website:

Investors

365 iT plc

“365 iT plc was founded in 2005 and now employs over 120 people. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries (365 iTechnology Ltd, 5i Ltd, 7 Global Group Ltd and Fox IT Ltd), the group provides an extensive range of IT services and solutions that address ten strategic areas of IT operations and management: IT Managed Services, Unified Communications, Business Continuity, Data Backup, IT Security, Virtualisation, Networks, Storage Solutions, Infrastructure Solutions and IT Service Management.

365 iT plc designs and delivers information and communications technology (ICT) services that help organisations enhance their IT effectiveness and ROI, enabling them to better meet their business objectives. Headquartered in Basingstoke, the company works closely with its clients from SME businesses through to corporate and public sector organisations.

Commenting on the acquisition of Fox IT, Peter MacLean, 365 iT plc’s chairman and chief executive, said: “This is a very positive development for the 365 iT group and I welcome Paul Speers and his team. I look forward to working closely with them in and in particular to helping them grow their business model substantially in the coming years.

MacLean continued: “This latest acquisition represents yet another significant step forward consolidating the group’s position in the very competitive and rapidly developing IT services market.”

Paul Speers, Fox IT’s managing director, said: “The future is undoubtedly very exciting and I believe that Fox IT’s capabilities in ITSM and ITIL strongly complement those of 365 iT plc. The combined forces of both companies will establish a new benchmark in the IT Services Sector.”

This 5th acquisition in just 4 years demonstrates the strength of 365 iT and the group’s ability to exhibit continued substantial growth at a time when many businesses are doing quite the opposite. In September, 365 iT plc was ranked the 15th fastest growing technology company in the UK, according to the prestigious Tech Track league table.”

As you can see until very recently everything was Go, Go, Go at 365iT plc !!

Meanwhile whilst there is a lot about the ” Rayne Concert Party ” on the LMS Capital website

http://www.lmscapital.com/Ournews/tabid/64/Default.aspx

there is nothing about the acquisition of 5i Limited, ImperaData, Dynax and Secure Networks which is a bit odd when you consider that at the time the ” Rayne Concert Party ” were shouting for a break up LMS Capital were just spending a load of money acquiring new companies !!

At least all the creditors and Loan Note Holders of 365iT plc got paid out by the money from LMS Capital. Who were the Loan Note Holders – well you can probably guess ( !! ) but more on after the shareholders meeting 😉

Please bookmark and share this blog because THIS is going to be an interesting story!

P.S. More on the New Company that LMS Capital just funded here:

http://www.365itservices.co.uk/about-us.php

About Us

365 ITMS Limited is a new company formed by a management buyout, backed by LMS Capital plc, of a number of business divisions from 365 iT plc.

These business divisions deliver a range of technology solutions extending from unified communications to network and system infrastructure, security, business continuity and managed services.

The new company, 365 ITMS Limited is managed by Peter Howells who was the Managing Director and co-founder of 5i Limited, the unified communications specialist. Peter MacLean, Chairman and Chief Executive of 365 iT plc who also joins the board as Non-Executive Chairman will focus on corporate strategy and acquisitions.

Peter Howells, Managing Director of 365 ITMS said “Our aim is to become the trusted IT services supplier of choice for corporate businesses in the UK. Bringing together the separate divisions under one banner will provide us with one of the strongest portfolio of technologies and services possible and allow us to work closer with existing and new customers and business partners to achieve this goal.”

Howells added “Working with LMS Capital will not only ensure that we have the capital to fund organic growth but also provide access to a greater source of investment capital to acquire other businesses that will further strengthen our overall proposition in key areas of technology and services delivery.”

Commenting on the investment, Pieter Hooft, Managing Director UK Investments at LMS Capital, said “We are delighted to have the opportunity to be part of 365 ITMS Limited. Our due diligence has confirmed that the individual businesses are held in high regard by customers and key suppliers and we are confident that their integration into a single new company, under a management team that has a proven track record of profitable growth, will create an outstanding company that will take advantage of the rapidly changing IT landscape.”

If you are Selling Gold,Silver,Diamond,Pearl,Watches, Jewellery and Art in the U.K. where do you go for the best prices and for people that you can trust ??

Although I am not an expert in this market I did have cause to investigate this market and sell a few items recently and what I found may be of interest.

Background

Simplistically the price of Gold over the last 20 years has increased massively. See

http://goldprice.org/gold-price-history.html

In USD/oz the increase has been from 2-400 tp 1400.

Silver has followed a similar trend

http://www.financial-portal.com/metal_Silver.html

from 5 to about 35 US dollars per oz.

Diamond prices have fluctuated quite a bit and only certain sizes, colours and quality of diamonds are really investments.

http://www.diamondsourceva.com/ShoppingAdvice/diamonds-investment.asp

Small diamonds are pretty valueless.

Pearls have been a disaster !!

http://www.fashion-era.com/jewellery/jewellery_freshwater_pearls_pictures2.htm

Prices of Watches and Jewelery

So, the value of Watches and jewelery, depending on what they are made of, have been affected by these price trends but then you have makes and designs to take account of before you can say what the trend has been.

Certain watches ( antique/classic ) are going to retain their value, generally speaking but there will be fluctuations.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/apr2010/bw2010045_024977.htm

The news is just out that HubSpot has raised another $32 Million in Venture Finance and I think that this will probably lead to U.K. , European and indeed Global expansion.Get the inside story from Brian Halligan of HubSpot:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/10480/Inside-Story-Behind-HubSpot-s-32-Million-Investment-From-Salesforce-Google-and-Sequoia.aspx

The Cisco FutureLine Hosted Voice system is based on Digium Asterisk at the core and uses Cisco Systems networking and endpoint ( voip phones, video over ip equipment etc etc ) hardware.

Whilst some people might view Cisco and Digium as unlikely partners I believe that they represent one of the most powerful combinations in the telephony world.

I regard Digium and Asterisk respectively as a company and a solution whose time has come. I am not alone in this view. If you doubt my opinion then perhaps you may consider the involvement of David Skok of Matrix Partners

http://www.matrixpartners.com/site/team_detail/david_skok/

in Digium. He is one of the investors.

David is specifically focused on the areas of cloud computing, Open Source, Software as a Service (SaaS), marketing automation, virtualization, storage, and data center automation.

Consider also the references in the book ” Asterisk: the future of telephony ” :

” In the book ” Paradigm Shift ” Tim O’Reilly talks about a paradigm shift that is occurring in the way technology ( both hardware and software ) is delivered. O’Reilly identifies three trends:

– the commoditisation of software

– network enabled collaboration

– software customisability ( software as a service – SaaS )

These three concepts provide evidence to suggest that open source technology is an idea whose time has come. ”

In this blog here

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2011/02/19/digium-asterisk-based-futureline-at-uc-expo-2011/

I have highlighted a number of general benefits of  a Digium Asterisk based Hosted Voice platform. ( These benefits also apply to premises based or managed solutions ).

In the same way that a Digium Asterisk based pbx like the Switchvox can be compared favourably to other premises based alternatives e.g. Avaya/Nortel or Panasonic a Digium Asterisk based Hosted Voice solution can be compared favourably to other proprietary Hosted Voice solutions e.g. Broadsoft or Mitel.

Without going through all the general benefits highlighted in my earlier blog it is reasonable to assume that the advantages are scaled up in line with the scaling of the system from one that serves a single customer to one that serves multiple customers.

If you are a reseller, distributer or small telco or cloud services company looking to provide Hosted Voice services to your customers ( and perhaps the customers of your customers ) then you are going to be looking at an investment in the order of £100’s of thousands ( albeit financed over a period of time ) in order to acquire a proprietary Hosted solution from e.g. Broadsoft or Mitel.

I highlight proprietary solution because it seems to me that the very last thing you want to do is to spend £100’s of thousands on a solution that is not “open”, standards based, easily upgradeable, customisable and flexible.

For an in depth appreciation of the problem being faced we can turn to David Skok again and a series of posts such as

http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-economics-1/

David starts:

” This post provides SaaS entrepreneurs with an Excel spreadsheet model and graphs that show the cash flow trough that happens to SaaS, or other subscription/recurring revenue businesses that use a sales organization. These kinds of SaaS businesses face a cash flow problem in the early days, because they have to invest up front in sales and marketing expenses to acquire customers, and only get payments from those customers over a delayed period of time. I refer to this phenomenon as the the SaaS Cash Flow Trough. ”

The cash flow problem in the early days is only going to be worse if you have to spend £100’s of thousands on your Hosted Voice platform !!

So, for many reasons, even though there have been successful models around the world based on proprietary Hosted Voice systems – I think there are a lot of failures in the Hosted Voice world based on such platforms – I believe that an investment in a Digium Asterisk based platform is going to help a Hosted Voice business model massively ( because it is going to be far less up front cost, more scalable, upgradeable etc etc ).

Evidently, if you are going to be supplying a total voice solution to a customer, you are going to need things like networking hardware ( routers, firewalls etc ), end points ( phones, video cameras etc ), possibly storage solutions, virtualisation hardware and software, broadband, SIP trunks etc etc

Who better to partner with than Cisco ??

As I have mentioned before there are millions of Cisco endpoints and routers attached to Digium Asterisk systems – particularly systems that have been supplied to small and medium sized businesses.

A quick review of  established and experienced Digium Asterisk value added resellers proves that they typically have Cisco and Microsoft skills and accreditations aswell as Digium Asterisk. They have to have really – don’t they !

Clearly Cisco have products and services that compete with Digium Asterisk products and services.

However Cisco also partner with e.g. Broadsoft and it could easily be argued that Broadsoft based solutions are preventing sales of e.g. Cisco UC 500 systems.

In the S.M.B. space particularly ( and here I mean S.M.B. end user customers and S.M.B. resellers, distributers and telco’s ) I believe the combination of Cisco and Asterisk is unbeatable and this is the combination that FutureLine provides.