News & Events / Press Releases

Gamma has launched version 4.0 of its hosted IP Telephony solution, FeaturePlus, to the channel. The new version builds on the existing features of the solution to bring additional functionality and meet the requirements of the SME market as end-users find increasingly flexible ways of working with IP Telephony.

With many thousand installed FeaturePlus seats, Gamma has worked closely with its channel partners since launching in June 2006. James Bushell, Senior Product Manager at Gamma Telecom explains: "When we launched FeaturePlus we were the first to the channel with a true business class IP Telephony solution for small business and we knew our channel partners would need support as the solution grew in popularity. Both Gamma and our partners have been impressed with the way end-users have adopted this technology and made it their own, using it in ways we would not have thought of two years ago. As the product and market have both evolved we have continued to listen to the needs of our channel partners and their end-users and this latest version of the product includes four new features based on feedback from the people who sell and use the solution everyday."

New functionality available with the release of V4.0 will allow channel partners to provide their customers with music on hold packages, the ability to use alternative number presentation and the ability to choose the quality of the call by changing between G729 and G711 CODECs using a bandwidth management facility.

The bandwidth management facility, one of the most important changes, means that FeaturePlus can now be sold as a premium service on a dedicated broadband line. Bushell continues: "When we first developed FeaturePlus, ADSL was capped at a 256k upload and we took the decision to limit the bandwidth used when making a call to minimise the number of dropped calls. The decision meant that the call quality would be better than a mobile call, but slightly less that a traditional PSTN call."

"With ADSL Max now providing up to 832kbps on the upstream we now feel comfortable in allowing users to make calls using the G711 CODEC to provide PSTN-comparable call quality. Our new bandwidth management facility gives our partners direct control of the CODEC. This facility can be used when a customer demands the best possible call quality from their service and can be managed through the Gamma portal on a line-by-line basis."

There is now also support for an 8 port ATA, enabling its partners to connect up to 8 analogue phones using existing wiring and without the need to extend Ethernet cabling to work stations, keeping the cost of installation to a minimum.

Barry Ward, Business Development Manager at Swains Voice and Data said, "We have just finished a successful month of testing the new FeaturePlus release and we are already lining up opportunities off the back of the new functionality. We see the 8 port ATA driving sales in the sub 8 extension market, as its ideal replacement for all the small systems out there. We can provide all the features you'd expect from a basic system and more, and as it doesn't require an additional cabling or new handsets, the cost of installation is very favourable indeed."

The music on hold function will allow end-users to play a number of on-hold tracks, presenting a more professional image and reducing the number of abandoned calls. It is designed to be sold as optional extra for a monthly fee and the option also exists to allow customers to provide their own custom made messages, providing yet another revenue opportunity for channel partners.

Existing channel partners had the new features and options automatically made available to them today with chargeable options being added to the standard catalogue.

Gamma Telecom is pleased to advise that a new range of 03 numbers are now available for reservation on the Partner Portal including a range specifically designated for charitable/public sector organisations.

This brand new number range was announced by Ofcom last year and the benefits have been particularly well received by public sector organisations as it is a unique opportunity to advertise a UK-wide contact number without charging the caller anything higher than the national geographic rate. There is a wealth of exciting market opportunities especially when the number is packaged with the new Inbound functionality and call management website www.myinbound.com

Chris Daffin, Network Solutions Director at Maintel comments: "Maintel are happy to have taken delivery of some great new 03 number ranges from Gamma and are already seeing some strong take-up of these numbers from our clients, especially in the public sector. Following OFcom's numbering review we expect a large number of organisations to move to these new UK wide 03 ranges which will offer them all the familiar advantages of non-geographic contact numbers such as disaster recovery options, more efficient call handling and inbound call statistics etc., safe in the knowledge that the caller is paying the same rate for the call as they would for a standard UK landline call."

Over the last two weeks, Gamma Telecom has been touring around the UK talking to existing resellers and potential new partners. The theme of the roadshow, 'how to grow your business in 2008', was extremely well received with over 400 resellers attending venues including Scotland, Manchester, Leeds, Warwickshire and London.

As well as providing a clear view of where Gamma is going, delegates were introduced to three key new services - Mobile, Inbound and Crosslink and were also updated on the latest information around Gamma's established IP products and services.

Jack Michalski of Welcome Telecom in Stroud said "the London event was superb and a great source of ideas for using Gamma's new services to grow our business. I took two of my new dealers along who were really impressed."

Wayne Lester of Lake Technologies in Manchester echoed the feedback that many partners have been giving, "Gamma's new mobile and inbound services really are going to make a big impact in the market. I have to say that I found the structure and entire content of the road shows both informative and inspirational, truly a reflection of Gamma's focus and commitment to channel partner growth and development. I am looking forward to a mutually prosperous relationship. Well done to all at Gamma."

Richard Bligh, Group Marketing Director at Gamma Telecom said "the road show was a real success and the turnout more than exceeded our expectations. What was really heartening was that there was a great mix of resellers at each event - existing customers and prospects. Our new Inbound and Mobile offerings were really well received."

With voice products and services covering Fixed Line, IP and Mobility, Gamma is in a really strong position to help Channel Partners grow their business and be successful in 2008.

Gamma Telecom has launched two new inbound services specifically targeted at SME's through the channel. The services, Contact Point and Contact Path, have been developed to allow Gamma's Channel Partners to offer simple, yet, powerful online tools, which will enable small businesses to improve their call handling performance without the Capex associated with CPE or even the pre-requisite of IP connectivity. The new services work in both a traditional telephone environment and with Gamma's existing IP Telephony solutions.

Contact Point is an entry level inbound product, which will allow end users to access their call routing plans via a new password protected website. The users will be able to create, modify and manage their inbound calls through an interface that has been designed using 'drag and drop' functionality. Richard Bligh, Marketing Director, Gamma Telecom commented, "Usability was at the forefront of our minds in developing this product, and we believe it will meet the call handling requirements of organisations ranging from a small business to a medium sized company with a number of different locations."

In addition to call routing functionality, Contact Point provides flexible call handling performance. It will allow users to take greater control of their call routing plans, as well as monitoring the effectiveness themselves and modify accordingly.

The second new product, Contact Path, has been deployed to address the requirements of multi site or multi department businesses and is also suitable for call distribution amongst a remote workforce.. The product has extra functionality in terms of call distribution and enables VIP call routing or call barring. It is also possible to create a virtual hunt group across a series of DDI's or fixed line/mobile destinations, maximising the organisation's ability to handle incoming calls.

Richard Bligh continued, "We feel the timing of this new inbound service is important. As the move away from 0870 numbers increases, it is a real differentiator for our Channel Partners to have sophisticated functionality on an inbound service for both geographic and non-geographic numbers. Add to that the speed of provisioning, and the online customer controls and we believe we have a winner."

Gamma has already seen a positive reaction to these new products from partners such as Intelicoms. Product Development Director at Intelicoms, Greg Eaton, comments, "I was very impressed with the flexibility of the new myinbound.com website. Not only does it look like a great solution to allow small business customers to manage their own inbound numbers with flexible call routing and statistics, it will also provide a great alternative to 'remote call forwarding' when a customer is terminating their PSTN line."

Gamma recognises the importance of making its products simple to sell, easy to provision and straightforward to bill. Easy online ordering and a low monthly rental charge against each number provisioned on these new services provides Gamma's partners with the flexibility and support to get to market quickly with these new products.

September 26, Hellidon Lakes Hotel, nr Daventry

Over 50 Channel Partners from all over the UK gathered for a day of golf and an evening of "high stakes" poker. The day began with one to one sessions with the Senior Management team at Gamma to enable partners to "talk shop" before the golf began. "This was a great chance to meet new partners and to share our plans around new products and market growth with all our customers" said Bob Falconer, CEO. "We we're pleasantly surprised by the number of people that wanted 1 to 1 meetings during the morning. Reassuring to know it's not just about golf! The key interest seemed to be in our new services, IP telephony and Inbound."

The golf was held in bright and breezy conditions and involved around 10 Four balls. The winning team were Adam Freeman, Glemnet; Clifford Norton and Sean Boreham, Frontier Voice and Data; and Cem Ahmet, Gamma Telecom.
The best individual round went to Keith Collins of Cavendish Communications with a very creditable 43 points. Graham Bunting of Avaya won a special mention for the "most bizarre shot of the day" - you needed to be there apparently!!

And so to the evening's entertainment. Texas Hold 'em poker was the chosen flavour of poker. After a 30 minute training session from the specialist dealers, everyone put on their poker face (easier for some to do!!) and got stuck into the game. As the evening progressed, 6 tables became 4 tables, 4 tables became two tables and we were down to the last table at 10.30pm. By 11.00pm, Rob Murdoch had won the tournament with Dave Tindall from Talk Straight as runner up.

Rob Murdoch of Titan Technology, the winner, said "This was a superb day - great golf, a really good atmosphere, and I'm going home £750 richer!!"

Adrian Barnard, MD, Modern Communications remarked "This has been a really well organised day, and you can see by the numbers that the combination of sports, networking and socialising caught people's imagination. Credit to Gamma and the various event winners!"

Gamma Telecom, Newbury, UK; 10th October 2007: Camrivox Ltd., a leading internet telephony solution provider focused on the SME market, announced that its Flexor products have been certified as interoperable with Gamma Telecom's IP DirectConnect Version 3.0 solution.

Gamma's IP DirectConnect platform allows virtually any PBX or CPE to be accepted onto the Gamma network. The interoperability of Camrivox's solutions will provide both Camrivox and Gamma's resellers with a wider range of IP Telephony solutions to offer their SME end-users.

Malcolm Wood, Camrivox CEO said "Given Gamma's presence in our target market space, Camrivox sees interoperability of Flexor products with Gamma's IP telephony services as key to our channel development ".

Alan Mackie, Senior Product Manager, at Gamma added "Camrivox's expert provisioning and CTI support will make the Flexor product range a compelling offering for our channel partners. Our target is to always offer our partners the widest choice of the best possible equipment to enable them to meet the needs of their end-users. Adding Camrivox to our growing list of interoperable technology partners means we can continue to meet that goal."

Camrivox's Flexor products present distributors and service providers in the SME market with superior product offerings. The Flexor range can be fully provisioned to offer a plug and talk service for customers and can be shipped with enhanced PC applications to provide CTI integration with Microsoft Outlook and other leading application packages.

Gamma Telecom, the innovative voice services, applications and solutions provider has been chosen by BT to spearhead the trials of its Next Generation Network (NGN). BT's 21st century network will make a major difference to telecoms in this country by making converged services faster, more efficient and more cost-effective than ever before. The project to develop the NGN is now well under way and the first phase has already gone live in Cardiff.

In order to make the implementation of the 21st century network an industry initiative rather than a BT project, BT has chosen to work in collaboration with other carrier partners, in order to carry out network trials. Gamma is one of only two partners to have been selected. Gamma's engineers will team up with BT's own engineers to validate the next generation protocols and interconnect policies. Gamma has been working on its own soft-switched based IP Telephony network for the last two years, which currently carries over 500 million minutes a month.

Richard Bligh, Group Marketing Director at Gamma Telecom commented, "We see huge opportunities in working so closely with BT on this project. The NGN will enable telcos to provide true differentiation and innovation in the services they can offer. The next phase of development in this project will bring even greater choice for resellers when it comes to choosing network partners and will also broaden the range of products and services they can offer to customers."

In addition to Gamma's part in the NGN project, Richard Bligh has also been involved in the industry group called 'Switched On', which aims to educate the channel and users about the changes to the network and the benefits that it will bring. A series of channel events have been held throughout September raising awareness in the channel.

Spinal Amenities Fund benefits from Gamma's rapid response

Gamma Telecom, the innovative voice services, applications and solutions provider is pleased to be able to make a substantial contribution to The Spinal Amenities Fund charity. The donation has been made as Gamma met a challenge laid down by channel partner, Cleartone, to beat the standard implementation time.

Cleartone promised Gamma the donation of £1000 in exchange for early completion of an interconnection installation. Gamma is always looking to excel in partnership service, so Network Switch Engineers Paul Jenkins and Joe Ross took up the challenge. They were able to complete the work well ahead of schedule, resulting in a happy partner and a donation to the charity of Gamma's choice.

Russell Erskine, the Cleartone account manager at Gamma has decided that the money will go to the The Spinal Amenities Fund. The charity fund collects contributions for the National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC) at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire where Russell has close personal ties. The NSIC provides comprehensive care to adult patients with acute spinal cord injury. It also offers rehabilitation to children with spinal cord injury in a dedicated paediatric unit.

Cem Ahmet, Marketing Manager at Gamma Telecom commented, "As a company we value being able to give our customers excellent service, and we have built a reputation on always responding to the needs of our channel partners. On occasions like this where we are able to help a charitable cause in the process of our day to day jobs it is very satisfying, and we extend our thanks to Cleartone for their generosity."

It is expected that the money donated by Gamma and Cleartone will go towards helping The Spinal Amenities Fund to improve facilities at the hospital, therefore improving the experiences of both patients and staff.

Gamma Telecom has launched version 3.0 of its market leading hosted IP Telephony solution, FeaturePlus. The solution, which already has thousands of seats installed in the UK, has been upgraded to enable Gamma's Channel Partners to include an IP phone in the package. The new package will broaden the accessible market; by enabling partners to offer a telephon solution to the small branch office space.

After thorough compatibility testing, Gamma has added the SPA 941; a leading-edge IP Phone from Linksys, which provides access to the FeaturePlus service.

The upgraded solution will bring additional benefits to Gamma's Channel Partners who are targeting small businesses, small branch offices, the sole trader and home worker markets. A single SPA 941 phone can now be provided with up to two phone lines as standard. This gives users one handset, two phone numbers and no need for an additional BT line. For companies with staff working from home, the phone plugs directly into an existing broadband router.

Where the FeaturePlus v2.0 service offered an ATA and easily serviced the 1-4 extension market, FeaturePlus v3.0 can now easily service the 2-7 extension market without the need for all of the wiring. FeaturePlus v3.0 means that end-users can have fast, easy access to a dedicated business line, with a dedicated phone number (any area code in the UK) and access to a range of calling and network features designed to facilitate flexible working.

The change of address procedures with FeaturePlus v3.0 does not change. i.e. if the business or home-working staff move, they simply pick up their phone and plug it in at the new address; the phone number and settings stay with them. Each line can have a different ring tone associated with it and this, along with the LCD display, means the user can then tell whether the incoming call is a sales call or a support call. The user can also select which line to call out from.

David Siegel at HIGHnet, a Gamma partner, commented: "We're excited about this new "grown-up" version of FeaturePlus. The solution is no longer suited only to the SoHo applications; it can now genuinely be used in small branch office situations. It means that we can now offer all of the added functionality that comes with FeaturePlus to a much wider target market."

James Bushell, Senior Product Manager at Gamma, explains: "The new version of FeaturePlus has two key benefits for our channel partners - it makes IP Phones easy to use and install, and also gives them more opportunity to widen the scope and offer choice to their addressable market. End-users will be able to have one phone, but with two lines. This allows for one phone number for sales calls and another phone number for support calls from existing customers, which makes the customer's business look bigger than it is, and improves the professional image."

IPDirectConnect Version 3.0 will bring further advantages for partners and users

Gamma Telecom, the innovative voice services applications and solutions provider, has today announced the launch of Version 3.0 of its SIP Trunking service, namely IPDirectConnect (IPDC).

The major enhancement within version 3.0 means that virtually any PBX or CPE can now be accepted onto the Gamma network, this is accomplished by the acceptance of connections from PBXs that use SIP registration as well as static IP authentication. This key improvement to the service opens up new markets for our partners, allowing them to sell to virtually all customers with all variety of equipment.

Version 3.0 also enables Gamma to offer its partners a fully managed end-to-end solution which includes the router and the ADSL broadband service. In this instance, Gamma will take full responsibility for the service (up to the router) ensuring that;
a) faults can easily be rectified, and,
b) Gamma's partners need only speak to one supplier for both services, which will improve order management and supply chain processes.

Other benefits of the new version include a presentation CLI facility and a Call Divert service which will give customers a clear failover mechanism by providing dedicated back-up at network level.

When it was first launched in 2005, IPDC became one of the first true IP transit services on the market and was seen as the IP equivalent of ISDN. It brought previously unavailable flexibility to channel partners wishing to bring IP Telephony to their end-users.

Alan Mackie, Senior Product Manager, at Gamma commented, "We are very proud of the capabilities that Version 3.0 will bring to the market. The service enhancements will provide an enhanced level of features and facilities to the product , that will enable Gamma Partner's to offer quality voce services to their Customers. To date, the success of IPDC has seen over 500 IP end points servicing over 100 customers and we will be looking for Version 3.0 to build upon this success."

Why have you gone to Gamma? What's the plan moving forward for Gamma?

Fibrenet worked through the trough in the telecoms market and then we sold up last year to Global Crossing. Gamma had been a customer of Fibrenet's for some years and after we sold the business they asked me to come on board. This was because they need operation telecoms experience in non-exec form as they were lacking this on the board, although obviously not in the executive positions. The board is largely made up of investors and the plan is to expand and add to the company's capabilities, although Gamma is already a major company.

What is the next step for Gamma?

Well, Gamma Telecom formed like a phoenix from the ashes of Atlantic Telcoms, buying assets from receivership and building these assets up again. The business is now significant in size with a turnover of £140 million a year and it makes profit, take a look at the Dec'05 results which are the last to have been released. IP Telephony is an expanding market- voice and data services are where the growth lies. As such, Gamma have introduced its own IP network years ahead of the BT 21c network. This will eventually take over from a pure voice network and Gamma are in a strong position for taking advantage of this. Gamma's vision is not vastly different from BT's but we are way ahead of them in implicating the network

Where's the money coming from for the IP network?

The funding comes from the originally investors- trusts run by wealthy individuals. This is where all funding has come from to date.

Are Gamma looking to float?

No decision has been taken as to the financial structure of Gamma going forward. Any decisions will obviously depend on the shareholders feelings and other factors. We will be looking at our financial situation over the next few months as any company in our position would be doing.

What are switchless resellers looking for from their carrier partners?

Our channel partners tell us that they chose Gamma because they know they will be able to re-sell high-quality, reliable and Channel focused services and because we can help them to provide IP telephony solutions to their customers, giving them an edge over their competition.

What factors create carrier loyalty?

We put a great deal of work into building relationships with our channel partners. We listen to their requirements and the needs of their end-users and build and develop our solutions to meet those needs. We also support our partners in the marketing and sales of the new IP Telephony solutions. We run regular training sessions and sales seminars where the focus is 100% on how to sell the solution. We don't talk technology, we give our partners real life examples of how the Gamma voice solutions have been able to open up new business opportunities, or change an end-user's business practices, or find ways to replace the margin that is falling out of the minutes market.
All of these support activities are a direct result of Gamma's strategy to only sell through the channel.
I also believe that our systems and portal are a key differentiator in our marketplace. Our systems work and the fact that we have one billing system means we are able to provide our partners with the Information they need when they need it. Our portal enables channel partners to have less back office resource, It automates and simplifies process, plus saves all links In the channel both time and capital expenditure.
The ease of doing business with Gamma Is a key driver in gaining loyalty and the logic is simple; if they succeed, we succeed. They wouldn't and don't get the same level of support elsewhere and they really appreciate that.

Is there such a thing as a one-stop shop carrier partner?

There are a number of carriers who claim to be, but we don't believe that can work and we don't support that model. Gamma is focused purely on delivering the highest possible quality voice solutions. The 'jack of all trades' approach to telecoms means that there will always be areas that are not delivered as well as they could be and this approach has its limitations. We encourage our Channel Partners to work with a number of partners, each of whom will be an expert in their own area. That way they can always offer their end-users the best possible solution to their business needs.

To what extent do switchless resellers have to take account of VoIP?

They have no choice if they want to stay in business - it's no longer a possibility on a distant horizon - it's here, now! We are already seeing a market decline in CPS revenue and VoIP revenues are increasing. We have been working with our resellers for the last year to help them get their IP Telephony business plans together and help them understand the new technologies and opportunities it is bringing.

Although there is a certain level of caution still amongst the end users, BT's 21CN network completion in around 2011 will see all users of telephony using IP, they will have no choice. If resellers want to grow their businesses and keep apace with the changes that are happening then they need to be adopting IP Telephony now before the early adopters steal the market from under them.

Comment provided by Cem Ahmet, Marketing Manager at Gamma Telecom

There are three truisms in telephony access today. Firstly, high speed IP access is becoming commonplace to all businesses and homes. Secondly, the speed is increasing and thirdly, the bandwidth requirements for voice are static if not declining. This means that the cost of providing voice access will become a diminishing problem. Access in the future will not just be over unbundled local loops. Alternative technologies such as WiFi, Fibre to the cabinet and perhaps even Powerline will increasingly play a role.

The regulatory barriers that were initially put up are gradually being overcome or relaxed. For example the recent Ofcom decision on VOIP regulation, although not enough for those looking for full deregulation, are at least a nod to the principle that the consumer should be able to make an informed choice.

In the last 18 months our focus has been on completing our next generation network. Gamma will be the first player of any scale to do this in Europe, possibly even in the world, and we expect this lead to exist for some years. Whilst others have been announcing their plans, we are seeing ours to fruition. This means that Gamma's wall-to-wall IP voice network will enable our customers to do things that simply will not be feasible on the old TDM networks. Just as the old electro-mechanical Strowger networks could not compete on cost and service with TDM so too will TDM not be able to compete effectively with all IP infrastructures. .

Over recent months Gamma has also strengthened its software capability through a combination of the in-sourcing of it's IS capability and the acquisition of skills and assets in Hungary from the former hosting provider Asylum Telecom.

This has given us the capability to build advanced hosted applications and SIP trunk capability fully under our own control. More sophisticated channel partners and ISPs can lease the core elements of this platform from Gamma, to take their own branded voice applications and services to their end users.

We do recognise however that the old world is not going to go away overnight and we're already ring-fencing a couple of big bangers in a sort of telecoms Jurassic Park! There they will probably roar away for several years carrying all the services that the customer is either not willing to transfer or are not economic to provide on an NGN.

Those from a data background who regard voice services as "just another application" sometimes fail to appreciate that the industry has had 130 years to build in excessive and sometimes unnecessary, regulatory, and technical and complexity around such things as porting, directory enquiries, and emergency service access (one area where IP's anonymity of location is a major weakness), .

For the next 5 years or so there is a major role for companies like Gamma to help bridge between the old world of TDM and the new world of IP based NGN's.

The great thing about the industry is that it's getting really exciting again to work in it. The range of voice applications that can be provided on IP is now limited more by our imagination than is inherent in the technology.

Gamma's early products include a number of connectivity and hosted services as part of its general offering. These are targeted more at improving business effectiveness rather than knocking the next 0.01p of the price of a minute. We need to offer something more exciting to customers to overcome the Telco-fatigue effect that many business experience. We are seeing customers using IP telephony services to rationalise lines, use numbers flexibly and provide an immediate gratification on the provision of extra lines or new facilities.

For example, Gamma's IP DirectConnect (SIP trunks to you!) can reduce the delays in installing a multi-channel ISDN service. Hosted solutions, such as Gamma's Communicator and FeaturePlus are also being very effective for dispersed offices, flexi-workers and home workers. All of these services and applications can be priced and bundled in a variety of ways giving channel partners a real opportunity to increase margins.

With some of the bigger Carriers focussing on scale and customer ownership through increased direct sales, the channel needs to find new ways of competing that are not simply based on price. Gamma is absolutely focussed on giving the Channel an edge by giving it product that can be adapted and tailored to the Channel partner's own niche.

When Gamma Telecom first launched its IP Telephony product set last year, it became clear just how little knowledge there was in the channel about how IP telephony would effect the market, how it could be sold and what the benefits would be for the end-users. In Autumun 2006 Gamma started to run a series of training seminars for its channel partners to help them find ways to do just that and learn how to sell and market IP products and help us be a front runner in the IP Telephony space. Pennycom was one company which took up Gamma's offer of sales training.

Pennycom's relationship with Gamma began around 2 years ago, when, through an affiliate company, they became one of Gamma's suppliers. Since this time the relationship has grown and the dynamic has reversed with Pennycom now selling Gamma's IP products through its own network of dealers.

Gamma's sales training focuses specifically on making its partners (and their customers if need be) confident and comfortable selling IP Telephony services. The products that are covered during the sessions are the FeaturePlus, IP DirectConnect, Converter and the Communicator services. In addition to learning the basics of what the products look and feel like (training takes place at Gamma's Demo suite in Newbury), Gamma give us insights into how each product fits in the marketplace, who the competitors are, what applications the products can and importantly can not be used for, but most significantly they draw on Real Life examples of where the services have been deployed - this means real case studies that customer love to hear.. The sessions also help delegates work out a strategy for their sales and marketing of the new products, along with procedures aimed at improving interaction with customers.

Mark Lloyd, spokesman for Pennycom commented, "All of our staff and dealers that have attended Gamma's sales training found it to be extremely beneficial. The sessions proved very useful in answering many of our questions about the products. It is only when you begin to sell a product that you start to find where the gaps in your knowledge lie, so training at this point is extremely useful. We had good feedback from our dealers on the training and it has certainly made our dealers more knowledgeable and therefore more effective at selling IP products."

So far most of Pennycom's dealers have attended one of Gamma's training session's. Gamma has since been asked to extend the training with Pennycom's dealers as the initial session proved to be so helpful.

Gamma regards the existence and quality of IP sales training to be the deciding factor as to who will succeed in the emerging IP markets. Participant feedback has shown that the training has already increased sales revenue from IP products and in recognition of the value of the training, Gamma will be increasing the frequency of the sessions, plus adding Technical and Support sessions for its Channel partners in order to give their partners an edge in the competitive marketplace.

Gamma Telecom, the voice services applications and solutions provider, has today announced the appointment of two new directors to its board. The new additions to the Gamma team, Andy Morris and Ian Moir are to head up the Service and Operations, and Development departments respectively.

The first new appointment is Andy Morris, who will become Service and Operations Director. This new post brings together all the customer facing and operational functions of the business. Andy joins Gamma with a proven track record of establishing and running high quality, customer orientated, operations. In his most recent position at Cable & Wireless he successfully ran a business unit responsible for 12 of Cable and Wireless's largest corporate customers including Marks and Spencer and Alliance and Leicester. Prior to that he was involved with a number of Telecom's start ups both in the UK and across a number of European countries. He spent the early part of his career with GEC Marconi Aerospace and is an Engineering graduate of Nottingham Trent University.

Ian Moir, who will fill the position of Development Director, has over 25 years experience in the communications industry. Ian has worked in various software engineering roles in South Africa, the USA and the UK and was also a founder of Xstreamis Ltd; a successful start-up that pioneered real-time data classification for the transport of rich-media content over broadband IP networks.

Welcoming their appointments, Bob Falconer, CEO of Gamma commented, "It is important to Gamma that we continue to attract top quality executives and continue to ensure our structure suits the needs of our customers and the market." He continued, "As we move more towards a software driven business, away from the traditional carrier model, we need to have senior people with excellent track records in customer service and software development. Andy and Ian bring just that."

As Gamma continues to grow at around 35% per annum, the company is investing more in high quality, industry experienced professionals. Gamma expects that this strategy will ensure that the company will continue with its current, impressive rate of growth.

Gamma Telecom, one of the UK's largest providers of voice services and applications, and Swyx a market-leading vendor of IP telephony solutions have just completed an extensive interoperability and QoS (Quality of Service) testing programme that will allow channel partners to offer a complete and reliable SIP trunking service to their customers.

Andy Bills, Senior Vice President of Sales at Swyx comments, "This alliance provides resellers with the opportunity to offer their customers a complete SIP trunking solution, enabling them to create more margin possibilities on both the voice application and the re-sell of SIP trunk lines. Their customers will also benefit significantly as they will no longer have to pay for the rental of expensive ISDN lines and they can enjoy vastly reduced call charges."

Cem Ahmet, Marketing Manager at Gamma Telecom comments: "We are delighted to have teamed up with Swyx. The guaranteed interoperability between Gamma's IP DirectConnect (SIP trunking service) and Swyx's hardware means that both our channel partners will be able to increase their revenue earning potential. In addition to full PSTN connectivity, customers can take advantage of lower call costs and an application that is scaleable on a per channel basis."

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) Trunking
SIP Trunking complements or replaces a company's existing analogue or ISDN telephone lines to reduce overall communication costs. The combined use of a SIP 'ready' IP PBX, such as Swyx and SIP Trunks form Gamma Telecom will enable users to connect directly to IP telephony services without the need for third party switches. With the widespread adoption of broadband, free or very low cost, high quality calls can be made using SIP trunks via the Internet by office and/or remote workers.

Gamma Telecom and International Carrier Sales & Solutions (ICSS), the international wholesale unit of Deutsche Telekom, have signed an international voice outsourcing deal, which sees Gamma Telecom outsource its international voice traffic to ICSS.

The solution will ensure Gamma Telecom's customers have the highest level of service quality whilst enabling Gamma to focus fully on serving its channel business partners. The forward-looking solution provides Gamma Telecom with a complete international voice solution.

Carriers around the world count on voice solutions of Deutsche Telekom's International Carrier Sales & Solutions to provide them with high-quality global voice termination. ICSS is able to route traffic according to each carrier's individual requirements via its cutting-edge network technology and market leading routing systems.

"This particular agreement with Deutsche Telekom ICSS is a cornerstone in Gamma Telecom's future strategy," added Bob Falconer, CEO of Gamma Telecom. "ICSS will supply Gamma Telecom with a high-quality international voice solution, removing the headache of managing multiple suppliers and enabling us to provide our channel partners with the very best international service."

Jonathan Webster, Head of Region, Western Europe & Africa for Deutsche Telekom ICSS, commented, "We are delighted to continue to enhance our business relationship with such a forward thinking company as Gamma Telecom. This agreement further demonstrates the ability of ICSS to provide high quality solutions in the ICT environment."

New software and staff will support continued rapid growth

Gamma Telecom, the innovative voice services applications and solutions provider, has taken the major step of bringing in-house all of the services currently provided by its systems specialist partner; Lifecycle. Gamma and Lifecycle have worked together for over 4 years, combining their individual expertise to bring the best possible service and value for money to Gamma' channel partners.

Gamma will acquire some of Lifecycle's assets, including the staff who formed the Service Delivery team and a number of software developers. The new staff will be located in Gamma's offices in Newbury, London and Manchester and will officially start working for Gamma from the 9th February 2007.

Ian Moir, Gamma's new Development Director, said of the acquisition: "This deal will enhance our software capabilities to ensure our systems developments, billing, portal provisioning and new product development continue to meet the needs of our channel partners and their end-users long into the future. The move represents a significant investment in Gamma's roadmap and complements our recent acquisition of Budapest-based IP company, Asylum."

As IP telephony continues to gather momentum, Gamma is positioning its self as a market leader by being the first carrier to complete construction of a UK wide IP-based network. The acquisition of these assets recognises the importance of the services Lifestyle were providing in helping to further differentiate Gamma through the development and ownership of unique software solutions for use with the company's IP network.

Gamma Telecom has sold its 1000th FeaturePlus product, which was launched to the market in July 2006.

Chalking up Gamma`s milestone sale was Neil Linter, MD at reseller Glemnet. He enthused: "We have deployed Gamma's FeaturePlus service into a number of businesses where basic IP Telephony functionality is required. The quality of the call is excellent. One of our customers is a heavy-duty outbound call centre where they have to be able to pick up the phone, knowing that it will not cost very much. They are delighted with the service."

FeaturePlus is a white-labelled hosted voice-over-broadband solution designed to be used with analogue phones, and Gamma plans to step up a gear in pushing the product through the channel.

Richard Bligh, marketing director at Gamma, added: "We want the end user to understand that these services are available NOW and are being sold by 25 per cent of our reseller base successfully. The channel partners are demonstrating the benefits of the product to the end user and selling it based on its functionalities not just price. Another 50 per cent of our partners are currently trailing the product. The feedback so far from both current-user and trailing channel partners has been positive. We have also increased sales training sessions for resellers to one session a month throughout 2007."

Gamma Telecom, the voice services and applications provider, today announced that it has acquired assets and staff of Asylum Telecom, a Budapest-based IP telephony service provider. As part of a long-term programme of investment, Gamma plans to build on its capabilities in order to strengthen its position in the rapidly developing market for IP telephony. This strategic step reinforces Gamma's leading IP-based platform and provides it with further skilled development resources for application development.

Asylum Telecom is a provider of IP-based communication solutions to internet service providers, consumer brand companies, and enterprises. The acquisition will give Gamma additional expertise in softswitch development, SIP protocol, database skills and testing and QA. This latter skills set, will now play a major part in testing Gamma's SIP trunk service with major IP PBX manaufacturers.

Bob Falconer, CEO of Gamma Telecom commented, "The acquisition of Asylum represents an important milestone in the development of Gamma Telecom's business and significantly enhances our software development capabilities. The new resources will accelerate the introduction of leading edge IP telephony products to Gamma's channel partners."

Gamma Telecom launched four IP-based telephony services earlier this year and carries over one million minutes a day of IP traffic from customer's applications. This achievement positions the company as one of the leading UK providers of IP-based voice services and applications.

Gamma Telecom, the voice services applications and solutions provider, has launched version 2.0 of its FeaturePlus hosted IP telephony service. The new version includes a number of enhancements to increase the benefits to the end-users, giving Gamma's Channel Partners even more selling opportunities.

FeaturePlus, which is sold exclusively through Gamma's channel partners, has received a phenomenal amount of interest and is currently being offered by over 50 channel partners. To date, FeaturePlus has carried over 100,000 voice minutes. Channel partners at the Soft Switch Shoot Out hosted by Griffin Internet recognised the power of FeaturePlus, as it was the solution behind Gamma being awarded first place against 6 other vendors, in front of 60 Channel providers.

The enhancements in version 2.0 have been developed in response to user and channel partners' feedback. For the end-users, Gamma has developed a virtual number subscription - an inbound only service - to aid flexible working and provide a real alternative to BT's call forwarding service, without the need to purchase hardware. Unconditional call divert has been added to complete the call divert feature set, and call history has been enhanced to allow companies to download and analyse their last 3 months of inbound and outbound call data. Other benefits to the end-user include a new on-line HTML help section and increased functionality of the on-line address book.

For the channel partners, Gamma has introduced two new features to help with the provisioning process. An "order status drill down" will help partners to handle and track orders, and a page-level help wizard will assist during the setting up of new accounts or ordering new services.

James Bushell, Snr Product Manager of Gamma Telecom, commented: "The FeaturePlus service has been very well received by our channel partners. We knew when we launched the service that it would enable our partners to bring new functionality to their customers, but they have exceeded our expectations with the creative ways they have found to use FeaturePlus to solve real life business issues. We're excited to see how they will respond to, and sell, the new enhancements in version 2.0"

Gamma Telecom has emerged as outright winner in the Griffin Internet 'Softswitch Shoot Out' held at Sandown Park, Esher last week.
The pre-Convergence Summit event organised by Griffin saw six vendors slug it out in front of 60 resellers in order to be judged on five key criteria:

- Best presentation - Clearest Channel proposition - Value for Money - Meeting the Griffin defined user RFQ - Most likely to partner with

Each supplier had just 15 minutes to complete their presentation - a 'response to tender' for a multi-site construction company devised by Griffin, with a further ten minutes allowed for questions from the floor. At the end of all the presentations resellers completed a score card for each of the six competing companies.

Emerging the winner in every category was Gamma Telecom. Second place went to Teleware with Hipcom in third position. Joint fourth place went to Swyx, VanillaIP and Kingston (Affiniti).

Andrew Dickinson, Sales and Marketing Manager, Griffin Internet told Comms Business Magazine, "The event was an incredible success and was oversubscribed three times with resellers keen to attend. The last question we had on our feedback form was most revealing in that we asked resellers if they currently sold hosted telephony or were planning to do so. 60 percent said they were not selling hosted but of those 80 percent said they were planning on starting to sell the application in the next six months."

Gamma Telecom today announced the launch of its new hosted IP telephony system, Communicator. The new system is designed for multi-site small businesses and offers advanced features to reduce total costs and improve productivity. Communicator will enable channel partners to offer the SME market a low-cost multi-site IP solution without the need for large capital expenditure on hardware or maintenance costs. Companies using the service will benefit from free site-to-site calls as well as lower cost calls and advanced calling features.

Although capable of running a 200+ employee system, Communicator is aimed at companies with 15+ employees working across at least two sites. Using dedicated IP phones or analogue phones via an adaptor, channel partners can connect end-users directly into Gamma's IP core network via Gamma's LLU. As well as being able to port existing customer numbers, channel partners can also offer their customers advanced features such as auto attendant, hunt groups and personal user settings available from any phone in the company. End-users receive the benefits of technology hosted and controlled by Gamma without the need for extra hardware and the associated cost savings of IP telephony.

Communicator is the fourth new IP telephony service to be announced by Gamma this year. Gareth Hamer, Business Development Director of Gamma Telecom, commented: "Communicator is a low cost and productive way of realising the benefits and advanced features of IP telephony. It gives our channel partners an opportunity to easily implement and provision IP telephony for their customers." Hamer continued, "With Communicator, Gamma has taken the hassle out of managing the hardware needed to make business telephony systems leading-edge, feature rich and cost effective. This new service further demonstrates Gamma's technological expertise and ongoing commitment to provide the best and most advanced IP solutions in the industry."

Gamma Telecom, the voice services and applications provider, today announced enhanced IP network access for its channel partners through the successful completion of its London Metro CWDM network. The new network interconnects with Gamma's IP-core infrastructure and will provide channel partners with improved and easier IP access points within the Greater London area telehouses. In addition, the new network will provide Gamma's channel partners with end-to-end connectivity with interface speeds of up to 1000MB.

The completion of the new network allows Gamma to provide channel partners with cost efficient Ethernet and SDH delivery across the same infrastructure using existing hardware. The use of CWDM technology will enable greater traffic to be sent through existing leased fibre, as well as increasing capacity when required. Channel partners will benefit from enhanced deployment speed and increased presence at key strategic locations. Gamma will provide 24/7 technical support for optical, SDH, and Ethernet hardware as well as support from Transmode, the leading-edge hardware supplier.

Gamma is the only carrier in the UK to sell exclusively through channel partners and recognises the need to constantly innovate in order to enable its partners to be first to market with the newest applications and most advanced services. Bob Falconer, CEO of Gamma Telecom commented, "The new London Metro network further extends Gamma's reach and will enable our channel partners to service their customers more efficiently."

Falconer continued, "Being a smaller and more innovative carrier, Gamma benefits from being able to move quickly and adapt to the ferocious pace of technological advances in the telecoms market. Gamma's enhancements to its network keep the company ahead of any change, enabling its channel partners to offer the most advanced IP telephony services with legacy support on the same platform."

"Small resellers are the future"

Gamma Telecom has hit back at recent announcements by a number of network operators dropping small resellers. Richard Bligh of Gamma Telecom, believes that this strategy will stunt future growth for companies implementing it in a quest for reducing the costs of serving the channel. Gamma, which has seen huge growth in channel partners over the past year, suggests that a business model that supports all resellers regardless of size is the only strategy that will achieve future growth.

Richard Bligh, Marketing Director of Gamma Telecom, commented, "It is evident that the current telecoms market is a very competitive environment but discriminating resellers based only on size, in order to capture more profitable business from the bigger players, is not an approach that will benefit the industry or the network operators. Selling to SMEs through the channel is a strategy that has led to growth and profit for Gamma. Gamma's success is proof of this: we capture more new business than any of our competitors because of our commitment to providing the right applications and solutions to all resellers in the market. It is clear to us that some of our smaller resellers have the skills, vision and strategy to become tomorrow's big players and we look forward to growing with them."

Bligh continued, "Gamma will continue to fully support channel partners regardless of size and we are looking to capitalise on market opportunities from other carriers that are changing their channel strategy. We have no plans to deviate from our chosen path and we look forward to the continued growth that both the company and its channel partners achieve."

As the UK's fastest growing alternative network provider and a major player in IP telephony, Gamma is an example of a business that has stuck by its strategy of working with all channel partners regardless of size. The company's systems expertise, innovative services and technology leadership has enabled it to provide solutions that are flexible enough to adapt to the needs of all resellers in the SME market. The company has recently launched three IP Telephony services into the channel and will continue to strive to offer its existing and new channel partners the most advanced voice applications and services on the market.

Gamma Telecom, the voice applications and solutions provider, has broken the barrier to carry over one million minutes a day of IP traffic from customer's applications. This achievement marks a significant milestone for Gamma in its role as a major player in IP Telephony and applications, and positions the company well ahead of other large network carriers. Gamma started transferring its network from TDM to softswitches in late 2005, and has already launched three of its four planned IP Telephony voice solutions to the market.

Richard Bligh, Marketing Director, said "Often in this industry its hard to differentiate between 'hot air' and real trends in the market. When Gamma is carrying this amount of IP traffic, it really reinforces that the transition from old voice services to IP based services is very much here and now. It also reflects the initial success through the channel of our recently launched services, FeaturePlus, a hosted service aimed at small businesses, and IP Direct Connect, a SIP trunk service."

Bligh continues: "In 2005 we announced that our strategy was to lead the market in the change to IP softswitching so that we could offer our channel partners the immediate benefits. We are on schedule to complete the transition of our UK network to 100% IP and softswitch based by the end of 2006, and now we see that strategy paying off as our partner's and their end-users begin to see the value IP Telephony can add to their business and the potential costs savings that can be made"

On behalf of Gamma Telecom, Chief Executive Officer Bob Falconer received a Business Achievement Award for the company's 96% increase in sales over the year to £72.2million.

The inaugural Business Achievement Awards for the fastest growing companies in the south (according to accounts filed by the end of March 2006) were presented by the law firm Clarke Willmott in association with DECISION business magazine, Deloitte, Grant Thornton, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Nearly 150 company directors and their guests attended the presentation evening at Avington Park, near Winchester.

Gamma Telecom, the voice services and applications provider, today committed itself to offering the greenest minutes in the UK by the end of 2007

Although telecommunications is generally not regarded as a polluting industry, and performs a valuable role in reducing travel, the UK's telecoms networks consume a surprisingly large amount of power. This contributes to the carbon emissions linked to climate change.(For example energy consumption for BT's network and estate during the financial year 2005 was 2624GWh and forecast to rise (2,624,000,000kWhr - source www.BT.com).

Gamma currently consumes approximately 6,000,000kwhr of electricity each year. This is 0.478 grams of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere for every minute of a telephone call on the Gamma Network. By comparison, driving a Ford Focus uses 165g/km (model dependent). So talking for 5 hours and 45 minutes on the Gamma network generates about the same CO2 as driving a Ford Focus for one kilometre!

Gamma has committed to reducing its CO2 emissions by 30% over the next 12 months. Gamma's commitment to offering its channel partners 'Green Minutes' marks the first initiative of its kind in the UK and is one of the benefits of Gamma's early adoption of IP based soft-switching in its core network. This announcement follows the recent launch of three new IP telephony services, positioning Gamma Telecom as one of the leading IP telephony operators in the UK.

As one of the UK's largest providers of voice services and applications, Gamma recognises the need to set an example to the industry. Bob Falconer, CEO of Gamma Telecom commented, "Gamma takes its responsibilities very seriously and is totally committed to being not just the most efficient low cost operator, but also the greenest. We suspect that, thanks to the efficiency of our network and assets, Gamma Telecom is one of the least polluting operators in the UK, however, comparative figures are not yet available. It is for this reason that Gamma Telecom will continue to publish its own carbon footprint in a meaningful way and challenge the rest of the industry to do likewise - this sort of competition makes commercial and environmental sense"

Industry regulator Ofcom has updated their slammer table - a naming and shaming exercise that shows the number of complaints network operators receive for so called slamming. This time around Gamma Telecom comes out smelling of roses with the lowest recorded level of complaints. The wooden spoon - though not nearly an adequate term - goes to London based Lo-Rate Telecom with a staggering 21% of customers complaining of being slammed.

Perhaps Ofcom should call it the Slam Dunk Award.

Richard Bligh, Director at Gamma told Comms Business Magazine,

"We are obviously delighted with this result. As a business which doesn't deal directly with end-users, it is vital that we support our channel partners and make sure it is as simple as possible for them to resolve faults and give accurate, timely billing, as well as delivering a good standard of service, and this result reflects that fact. The impressively low complaint rate is a tribute to the hard work of the customer services teams within Gamma's channel partner companies, and we would like to thank them for making it possible for us to achieve this excellent level of service"

For the full Ofcom Slamming League Table read the July issue of Comms Business Magazine.

GAMMA TELECOM CASE STUDY

'The Square Window' is a young, dynamic consultancy based in the South of England. With over 28 years combined marketing experience, they have worked with successful UK companies and top marketing agencies in both Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer marketing.

They have two home-offices, one in Kent and one in Sussex with 2 lines at each office - one for calls and one for fax.

The Problem

After a number of years of operation and as the business grew, the 2 directors realised that a problem existed with their chosen telephony solution. Their current BT PSTN service, although reasonably cost-effective, did not provide them with the features and functionality that would allow them to handle their calls more efficiently, whether having made them or received them. They wanted to give the impression of a single-sited, polished and professional outfit when dealing with customers on the phone, but without having to compromise on price.

The Square Window also needed to factor in to their decision making that, as with all growing businesses, they would have to move premises at some stage in the future. It was vital that they would have the ability to keep their landline number so prospects that they had given their contact details to would still be able to make contact with them.

In addition, and just as importantly, it was key that the solution chosen would give them the confidence that they would never lose a call whether they be on the road visiting customers, suppliers, or each other.

The Approach

FeaturePlus was chosen by the Square Window as it offered a host of inbound and outbound calling features that would help the company project a professional image through more effective call handling -all for less than they paid with BT and with the added benefit of free calls and free call transfers between their two offices.

The Solution

As with the majority of small business today, both Square Window home-offices already had an installed business ADSL service. Using FeaturePlus meant that the company could now rationalise the two lines at each site to the one line that supported both their fax and ADSL. There was no need to send an engineer on-site, to install any expensive IP phones and within 5 working days the FeaturePlus service was self-installed and working.

Satisfaction

Simon Clark Director and co-founder of the Square Window remarked;

"FeaturePlus gives us the ability to forward calls to each other's offices and our mobiles phones so our calls are never lost when we are on the move. The SMS voicemail alerts which get sent to my mobile mean I can collect voicemails when out of the office and follow them up promptly when needed. This is a huge bonus and isn't something that BT offers.

We are now in a position where we never lose a call or a sales enquiry, which is vital to the survival and growth of our business."

GAMMA TELECOM CONVERTER CASE STUDY

Problem?

Marcus Evans is one of the leading business information companies delivering intelligence and strategic information through a variety of media. They employ 3000 professionals in 54 offices worldwide.

Crowthorne Associates Ltd are their Voice Solution partner who felt that if they could connect Marcus Evans offices in Europe to an IP Network they would benefit from free site to site calls, reduce their telephony costs and receive all of the benefits from IP.

So, Marcus Evans after detailed discussions tasked Crowthorne with exploring the possibilities of connecting one of their offices (Kiev) to an IP network. One of the problems was that there was a legacy PBX (not IPBX) in their Kiev office that hadn't come to the end of its install life. This meant that they had the choice to either replace the PBX with an IPBX or look at other solutions on the market that would solve this issue without incurring PBX replacement costs.

Approach

Crowthorne's recommendation to Marcus Evans was to utilise Gamma Telecom's new IP DirectConnect and Converter solutions. This was after having been recently plumbed in to the Gamma Network in London via the IP DirectConnect Service. Crowthorne felt it seemed reasonable to go with Gamma's latest addition to their IP telephony offering, namely "Converter".

The procedure was to start with one office in Kiev, where international costs were particularly high.

Solution

Marcus Evans already had existing ISDN lines going in to the legacy PBX at their Kiev offices. Additionally an SDSL connection was also installed. IP DirectConnect was then configured over the SDSL connection in order land all of the voice traffic running through it to the Gamma Network. The service was then expedited by connection to the "Converter" which was interfaced with the legacy PBX

Satisfaction

Crowthorne Associate's Andrew French commented;

"Marcus Evans now benefit from reduced rates for all their calls, plus free calls between their office in Kiev and London. They didn't have to replace their existing PBX and the Kiev office now has, via the 'Converter' box, Call Management features which gives them 'remote' control of inbound and outbound telephony.

They don't even have to worry about their volume of traffic and expansion or reduction of their offices as the IP DirectConnect service gives them a scaleable service on a per channel basis, so if they suddenly increase the number of calls made from the Kiev office, Crowthorne can very easily increase the number of voice channels.

And best of all, there is the fail-safe option; Marcus Evans had some concerns over reliability of the new technology involved with IP.... However with this solution if the IP (SDSL) connection goes down, then the existing ISDN automatically kicks in for emergency backup."

Marcus Evans IT Director noted;

"We couldn't be happier with the savings in Operational cost and the productivity benefits that the IP DirectConnect and Converter services have brought. We are delighted with the project management we received from Crowthorne and we are completely satisfied with their choice of IP solutions from Gamma Telecom."

Newbury, UK - 6 June 2006: Gamma Telecom today announced the launch of its new IP gateway solution, 'Converter'. The new service combines IPDirectConnect (service launched 2005) with hardware that brings IP functionality to traditional PBXs. Converter will enable resellers to offer the SME market a low-cost solution to converting existing PBX equipment. Companies subscribing to the service will benefit from lower cost calls, free calls between linked sites and the ability to rationalise their ISDN lines, leading to a reduction in total costs.

With the use of Gamma's Converter hardware, IPDirectConnect will connect end-users directly into Gamma's IP core network enabling full PSTN breakout. The service is built on a proven IP platform that has been serving Gamma's Carrier customers with IP Telephony service for the last 18 months. The service is fully scaleable and will be charged as a monthly 'per voice channel' rental fee. This will allow channel partners to select the exact number of voice channels they require. Compared to traditional ISDN based telephony, Converter offers a number of features bundled into the per voice channel such as providing DDI number ranges and CLI presentation, which usually incur additional costs with ISDN.

Gamma is also the only carrier in the UK to work exclusively with resellers and designs applications and services with its partners in mind. Richard Bligh, of Gamma Telecom, commented: "Converter offers end-users a low cost alternative to purchasing a new IP-PBX. This service gives our channel partners a real opportunity to offer an IP migration path to more 'cautious' end-users who wish to continue using their existing PBX. For companies looking to move to IP but retain their existing equipment with a PSTN fail-over, this is an ideal starting point. This means that should the IP link go down, there will be NO loss of telephony service. This addition to Gamma's IP telephony portfolio, further demonstrates the company's leading position in the IP market and dedication to providing the channel with the most innovative and saleable products on the market."

Converter has already completed a successful trial phase and is being rolled out across a number of companies, including some of Gamma's international partners in the Ukraine.

21CN - Coming to a desktop near you

The whole telecoms voice market is changing rapidly - a huge upheaval that is equivalent in scale to the change from electro-mechanical to electronic exchanges. The difference is that the previous change took place over 20 years, whilst the coming change from TDM to IP will take place over the next five years. Voice will become an applications running on an Internet technology based infrastructure. In the following abstract from an interview with Comms Business magazine, Bob Falconer, CEO of Gamma Telecom, examines BT's motives behind building the 21CN and offers an alternative view.

"BT's motives in building the 21st Century Network are genuine and the company is committed to a consultation process. However, the natural instinct is to be concerned over press coverage and image. The underlying business motives are straightforward - knocking a £billion a year out of the operating costs. Inevitably it is about survival and coping with competitive threats and the new network will position BT well to deliver new services alongside its competitors.

BT has been positioning itself as the only payer big enough and powerful enough to make this level of financial and engineering investment and at the same time it is seen to be dragging, via a consulting programme, the rest of industry kicking and screaming towards 21CN. BT is seeking to claim the moral high ground, but its motives are far more pragmatic.

BT's natural instincts are still monopolistic. In a way, I think there may be a tendency for it to consider the new 21CN as a monopoly and potentially a mechanism to recreate the old monopoly and for everyone else to fit in to the BT plan.

I'm also concerned about the process. Here we are in 2006 and BT has set up dozens of 21CN working groups. Rather than this being a criticism of BT, it is a reflection of the sad state of the industry. The way the process works is that BT sets out the agenda and the time for the meetings - either you meet those schedules, or accept the outcome of the meetings. It is still BT setting the agenda 25 years after de-regulation. It is a frustrating and rarely productive process.

Looking forwards, I believe there is a schism in the approach to market. Consolidation has been talked about for ten years in the industry and we have seen a spate recently, with public statements talking of achieving critical mass - getting scale and costs right.

Where does this leave the channel? The downside of scale is inflexibility and slow response. The carrier market is heading towards a vertically integrated model at a time when it is going through its fastest change in 30 years. Fleetness of foot, customer focus and adaptability should be the critical attributes, rather than scale.

Gamma has chosen to take a view that vertical integration is, therefore, questionable. We want to be early to market with IP applications and I know we can do the better than any vertically integrated carrier. We are focussing on being a wall-to-wall 21CN provider and will have our network completed in 2007 and will still be waiting for BT and other to roll out their own programmes. That is the reality.

ENDS

Voice application solutions provider, Gamma Telecom, has responded to recent statements from Cable & Wireless which made sweeping criticisms of the telecoms industry and left a large number of companies in the channel feeling concerned and let down. Gamma acknowledges that it is unfortunate that Cable & Wireless is having difficulties, but states that this individual company's experience does not reflect the general state of the industry. As the UK's fastest growing alternative network provider, Gamma is evidence that there are a great number of very successful businesses operating within the telecoms market and these include Cable & Wireless' own channel partners.

Cable & Wireless feels that its current business model of selling to smaller companies does not work, and consequently it is dropping 27,000 of its smaller customers. Richard Bligh, Marketing Director for Gamma Telecom, comments: "selling to SMEs through the channel can be an excellent business model if due attention is paid to the unique needs of this segment of the market. Gamma is thriving proof of that and we have no plans to change our strategy of selling exclusively through channel partners to the SME end-user. It is unfortunate that Cable & Wireless could not make the model work, but that does not mean it cannot be done."

Mr Bligh continues: "there is no doubt that this is a challenging time for the telecoms market, as we experience the greatest rate of change the industry has ever seen. This means that we, as an industry, need to bend with the changes to find innovative solutions, whilst working closely with our channel partners (and our staff!) to bring a sense of stability to our market and calm the waters stirred up by Cable & Wireless."

Gamma works exclusively with channel partners to design and sell voice solutions for the SME market. By listening to the needs of the customer, and being flexible enough to adapt with the changing market, Gamma is able to provide solutions that are easy for the channel partners to provision and bill, and add value to the end-user's business.

Gamma Telecom, the communications services provider, is in the process of transferring its customers' voice traffic across to its new IP core network. Gamma's existing network, which spans across the UK from Dundee to Plymouth, carries an average of 450 million voice minutes per month.

Bob Falconer, CEO at Gamma, says "The transformation of the network began earlier this year when we started to transfer TDM traffic across to our IP core. So far, this has been hugely successful. Changing the legacy network has been enormously complex and maintaining continuity of current service offerings throughout the transfer has been critical".

The company has been preparing for this transition since the end of 2004, by progressively replacing the core-switching network with 'Next Generation' technology. So far, the time and planning put into this project has paid off and the feedback Gamma has received indicates a 100% success rate with the traffic that has been transferred across to the new IP core.

Falconer concluded: "The transition to IP telephony has become inevitable, and we didn't want to wait and see how and when BT would complete the 21CN. Our strategy is to change our core network to NGN/IP now so that we can start to offer our resellers and their SME customers the immediate benefits. We now have the opportunity to create a new, broader portfolio of services with increased functionality, based on delivering added value for the end-user. It will also, in the long run, reduce operational costs within the industry."

Gamma Telecom, the innovative voice and data communications services provider, has been placed 6 in a nationwide evaluation of technology companies. The Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100, compiled by Fast-Track, ranks Britain's fastest-growing, unquoted technology companies based on sales growth between 2002 and 2004.

Over the period Gamma Telecom's sales grew from £2.7m to £72m, with a forecast of £100m for 2005. The four year old company has been profitable for the last six quarters and has demonstrated an impressive growth.

Gamma supplies channel partners with innovative voice and data services that are designed for fast, efficient and profitable resale. Backed by a consortium of private investors and financial institutions, including the Kuok Group and Sofaer Capital Inc (SCI), Gamma is the only major UK telecommunications company to exclusively sell through the reseller channel.

Bob Falconer, CEO of Gamma Telecom, comments: "Gamma's success is largely due to the fact that we have had a clear and focused plan - to supply our channel partners with the products and services they want. Also, whilst the team has many years of experience in the telecoms market, Gamma is young and lean enough to be able to anticipate the needs of the market and act immediately to meet them".

About Gamma

Gamma Telecom (www.gammatelecom.com) is a communications services provider, which supplies innovative voice and data services that are designed for fast, efficient and profitable resale. Gamma's services are specifically for SME end-users and are supplied through channel partners, including resellers, ISPs and systems integrators.

Gamma is the only major UK telecommunications company to exclusively sell through the reseller channel, and is the fastest growing UK alternative network operator.

Following a year of intensive partnership building, Gamma Telecom, the communications services provider, has announced plans to close this year's partnership programme with a thank you day for its key partners.

This year has seen Gamma host a series of partner-focussed breakfast seminars, covering topics from VoIP to back office systems, all of which are designed to make sense of the changing market for its channel partners. Richard Bligh, Marketing Director explained: "Gamma was founded on the principle of providing innovative, market leading solutions which could be sold exclusively through our channel partners to SME end users. Our partnership programme is a vital part of that plan as it provides an opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss industry issues with our only point of contact with the end user."

The programme ensures Gamma's partners have priority access to information and a single point of contact within the company to deal with account issues. The programme this year has been a huge success; Gamma is now working with over 150 partners. Richard Bligh continued: "Our partners know that Gamma will anticipate the needs of the market they are selling to. By signing up with Gamma, our partners not only receive a high quality service, but they also know that they will never be behind with developments in the market as we strive to always be one step ahead".

The thank you day out at Newbury Race Course is first and foremost a 'thank you' to those partners who have worked with Gamma over the last year, but it is also an important opportunity to talk about what's happened in the last twelve months, and what challenges are predicted for the New Year. The Race Day will provide a relaxed environment for around 30 guests, who will receive a champagne reception and 3 course silver service lunch and afternoon tea in Gamma's private box.

Communications service provider, Gamma Telecom, has appointed John Haw as Channel Sales Director responsible for Systems Integrators, effective from October 2005. With a decade's experience in Telecoms, most recently at MCI, Haw will help take Gamma into a new strategic market place and further develop the company's reputation for 'best of breed' wholesale voice and broadband services.

Haw will be focussing on strengthening Gamma's position as a market leading IP telephony services provider. Part of his role will be to promote a range of value added services as Gamma rolls out its next generation network.

"Gamma has experienced fantastic growth since its inception," Haw comments, "The fact that the company recently came 6th in the Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100 is recognition of its forward-thinking approach. My goal is to transport Gamma's innovations into new markets. At the same time, Gamma will also be helping our existing reseller partners to find a place in the new IP-based market and to adapt to meet the new requirements of the SME end-user".

As Gamma develops new channels, the focus will remain on delivering services that have been designed for fast, efficient and profitable resale. Gamma was founded to work with resellers and as a consequence it has acquired an understanding of the needs of the reseller market that is second to none. As demand for IP telephony increases, the company will continue to offer access to services that are transparent, as well as easy to provision, bill and support.

Gamma Telecom, the fastest growing Telephony company in the UK, has recently acquired the voice telephony businesses of True Communications Ltd and of Telephony Management Ltd.

This forms part of Gamma's strategy to work with resellers in a number of different ways, including partner programmes through to full acquisition. Gamma is currently acquiring a number of resellers where the owner/manager is looking to exit the industry.

"Many small to medium sized resellers are recognising an inflection point in their growth path, where they are faced with major investment decisions against a backdrop of a consolidating market at a time of rapid technological change" says Bob Falconer, Gamma's CEO. "Gamma offers these types of resellers a number of different ways of cashing in on their success, whilst continuing to play a role in the UK telecoms market space."

Leon Penny, Director at Telephony Management, says "We have a great relationship with the team at Gamma. We always felt during the sale process that we were working together, and we are very confident that our customers will be well looked after within the Gamma group."