Mar/Apr 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

Core Communications Fueled by growth in both hardware and software sales, the U.S. B2B technology market experienced 6 percent dollar growth in 2018, according to The NPD Group. Dur- ing the period, hardware represented 73 percent of revenue and grew 5 percent, while software represented 27 percent of revenue and grew 11 percent. Strong PC and peripheral sales, as well as rising component prices due to shortages, al- lowed B2B hardware sales to remain on the rise year over year in 2018. In the B2B indirect channel, notebook sales were up 6 percent, which benefitted peripherals and accessories, as docking stations (+30 percent), PC headset/ PC microphones (+28 percent) and USB hubs (+27 percent) all saw dollar sales increases. In the components segment, price increases resulting from product shortages, drove dol- lar growth in the desktop/server memory (+25 percent), notebook memory (+15 percent), and video cards (+8 percent) categories, said NPD. In the software market, the cloud infra- structure and platform as a service (PaaS) category saw strong dollar growth in 2018 with an increase of 21 percent from the year prior. This was driven, in part, by the increas- ing number of small to medium businesses gaining access to applications that were once out-of-reach, as well as the increasing adoption of hybrid cloud strategies. The stor- age utilities and management category also experienced noteworthy gains, up 31 percent year over year, as a result of businesses adopting hyper-converged and software- defined storage solutions to gain efficiencies and simplify data center needs. Finally, with security being of paramount importance, growth in the segment resulted in a 12 per- cent increase versus the prior year. “The U.S. B2B IT channel experienced a higher percentage of growth than the overall U.S. GDP, and it will likely continue to do so in the new year,” said Michael Diamond, direc- tor, industry analysis, B2B Technology for The NPD Group. “While there are some economic unknowns as we venture further into 2019, I believe technologies that help organizations stay productive, protect infrastructure, enhance the customer experience and drive innovation internally will see the greatest success.” U.S. B2B Tech Indirect Sales Up 6% in 2018 VoIP Innovations is now a vir- tual competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), said the company. As a virtual CLEC, VoIP Innova- tions can now provide its own network when delivering com- munications platform as a service and SIP trunking solutions. The company offers a unique set of developer tools with its CPaaS product, Apidaze. Devel- opers use REST APIs to build micro-services such as two-factor authentication, advanced voice- mail, hosted contact centers, call recording/transcription and high volume fax. Once the services are completed, developers can pub- lish them to the VoIP Innovations Showroom. The Showroom acts as a global distribution platform and reaches thousands of po- tential customers. There are also white-label options available for the Showroom. Additional services and fea- tures include customizable widget dashboards, SMS enablement for on-net and off-net numbers and custom rate decks. 8×8 has launched PartnerX- change, an online portal where channel partners can manage their 8×8-related business and drive sales. PartnerXchange enables the 8×8 partner community to submit deal registrations, locate partner- ready marketing tools to generate demand, receive real-time status updates on sales opportunities and support cases, obtain train- ing and certification and discover self-service options. PartnerXchange also provides sales enablement services includ- ing enhanced deal registration, instant partner registration with PartnerXperience case creation and management and initiation of letter of authorization. VoIP Innovations Rolls Out Virtual CLEC Capabilities 8 × 8 Launches PartnerXchange Platform 15% Expected CAGR of global hosted PBX market during the forecast period of 2018 to 2024, according to Research and Markets. 64 Channel Vision | March - April, 2019