Welcome to the Summer edition of Comms News. In this edition we talk about a new phone system range by LG-Nortel that we are promoting in the marketplace, we also talk about Sophos, a leading anti-virus software that is beating McAfee and Symantec in the review stakes. We’ve recently launched a new shopping facility on our website that gets a mention and we push the boat out on our new promotion of mobile communications with the release of a new smartphone from Blackberry called the Bold.

As ever, things constantly change in business communications so we aim to keep our readers educated on the latest developments. If there is anything you want information on or you just want an update on what is new in the marketplace then please get in touch, we are always delighted to assist.

Mark Wilson
Managing Director

Which anti-virus for your small business? Sophos recently beat McAfee and Symantec in an independent product review.

Sophos Computer Security SBE 2.0 was rated the best computer security product for small businesses by independent reviewer, Cascadia Labs. With powerful anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-adware, easy installation and management and client firewall to stop hackers, Sophos outperforms similar products from Symantec and McAfee.

Sophos manages all your computers, laptops, mobile devices and file servers from a single management console. It provides administrators with an easy-to-understand and effective dashboard that summarizes protection status of both Windows and Mac computers and present threats.

Datasharp is an authorised reseller of the family of Sophos anti-virus solutions. Please contact us for further information.

At our recent partners meeting in Chepstow a new alliance was formally announced between the Datasharp group and LG-Nortel to bring its telephone system range into our portfolio. 

The systems from LG-Nortel are aimed at small to medium enterprises with a strong IP telephony slant and are extremely price and features competitive against similar telephone systems on the market. In particular, the lower end of the family might be suited to the user wanting a very basic, cost effective solution utilising features including remote worker facility using IP hardphone or softphone, mobile extensions (to link to your mobile phone) and call recording.

Overall, the LG-Nortel telephone system family is certainly one to consider when looking for a cost-effective, feature packed and new to the market solution. 

For the small office the ipLDK20 provides from 8 to 24 extensions. 

The iPECS IP telephony system comes as either a 70, 300 or 600 extension module without the need for any licenses, so adding an extra user is just the cost of the additional phone.

We have just started a new online shopping facility for our most frequently requested peripheral items such as headsets (wired or wireless), DECT cordless phones and conference phones. Initially it will just cover the most popular items providing a simple and quick way of ordering these items.

Please visit: www.dstelecom.co.uk/datasharpstore

We already offer a whole host of communication solutions ranging from supply, installation and maintenance of leading telephone systems, hosted IP telephony, hybrid VoIP through to Least Cost Routing, Conference Phones, Network Cabling etc. So one of few remaining solutions that we did not cover was mobile phones, smartphones and PDA’s.

Following a steady stream of requests we are happy to announce that we can now offer these on contract or purchase basis. To start the ball rolling we introduce the new Blackberry…

New Blackberry Bold


• Large, bright, 480px by 320px Colour Screen
• 2mp Camera with Flash and Video Recording
• Bluetooth® 2.0, Wi-Fi and USB 2.0 Connectivity
• Built-in GPS and BlackBerry Maps Software
• Quad Band GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA Handset
• Powerful 624MHz Processor running BlackBerry O/S
• 128mb Flash Memory+ 1gb Storage, expand to 8gb
• Full E-Mail support, inc. multiple account integration
• Media Player including iTunes support via Media Sync
• 114 x 66 x 14 mm, 133g (With Battery)

We have talked about this telephone system in the past but thought it was worth a mention again due to its increasing popularity. The OpenOffice solution from Siemens is a unique IP enabled telephone system with a presence management interface enabling the user to see the up-to-date status of all other users at any time.

For example, when you schedule a meeting in Outlook Calendar or say a holiday then this automatically gets picked up by the OpenOffice. At the meeting start time the OpenOffice can automatically answer your DDI calls and tell the caller you are “in a meeting until xx:xx” and offer the caller the choice of leaving a message or transferring to a colleague.

The ‘Presence’ facility means that all other OpenOffice users will see in their ‘my portal’ that your status is ‘in a meeting’.

Ocean Trawlers have upgraded their Siemens HiPath to V7 with Xpressions voicemail to give them e-mail notification.

Stratis Consulting, an IT consultancy firm, has installed the Siemens HiPath 2030 IP telephone system with wireless LAN phones connected via multiple access points around the building.

December 2007 - Datasharp becomes one of Siemens test sites for the new HiPath OpenOffice system

March 2007 - Datasharp wins Nortels top SMB Achiever award for the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

April 2006 - Datasharp launch 'Hosted IP Services'. All you need is an IP phone, or softphone on your laptop, and a Broadband connection to operate anywhere in the world.

March 2006 - Datasharp Group win Siemens 'Customer Care' award for the fouth time

September 2005 - Datasharp gain Gold Solutions Partner accreditation with Nortel Networks for SME IP Telephony with the BCM range. That makes Datasharp one of only two such companies in Europe; the other being BT.

March 2005 - Datasharp Group win Siemens 'Customer Care' award for the third time

September 2004 - Datasharp become the first organisation to sign an agreement with BT Indirect Channels for the promotion of BT products and services, including line provision and end to end routing of calls over the BT network.

June 2004 - Datsharp win the Siemens 'Dealer of the Year' award

May 2004 - Datasharp customer Trials Latest Siemens IP Cards & Phones
KPOS Computer Systems acted as trial site for the new HG1500 version 3 IP cards and new OptiPoint 410 IP phones. Also taking the IP phones were BMW UK and Deutsche Bank.

February 2004 - What to Buy for Business awards Siemens 'Best Buy 2004'
Siemens have won 'Best Buy for Business 2004' with their HiPath 540, HiPath 3500, 3550, 3700 and 3750 systems

November 2003 - Siemens launch 'OpenScape'
Developed in conjunction with Microsoft, it is real time communication software designed to boost personal and workgroup productivity. It can help eliminate telephone tag, manage availability, eliminate e-mail trails and provide workgroup collaboration by controlling the various means of communication under a portal with a single virtual contact number.

August 2003 - 192 Directory Enquiry Service ends.
BT's monopoly on directory enquiries has ended. Several companies have been licenced to provide competing services under 118 numbers. For a full list of providers go to www.newdirectoryenquiries.com Further information is also provided in our Autumn newsletter.

July 2003 - Samsung launch their IP enabled business phone systems called OfficeServ. This is designed not only for companies with multi-sites but also for those wanting to provide IP down to the desk.

December 2002 - Datasharp have supplied three videoconferencing systems to Apollo Fire Detectors in Havant, Hampshire to enable them to have 'visual' links with their offices in Germany and USA.

November 2002 - Datasharp awarded Siemens 'Customer Care' award for the second year running. This prestigious award recognises the high level of care and support we provide our customers.