HOME We need a radical channel rethink to drive mass market adoption of smart home technologies in Europe, argues Stuart Wilson, Editor at Channel EMEA.
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Ingram Micro UK adds SkyKick to cloud offering
Distribution giant Ingram Micro UK has added SkyKick to its cloud portfolio. The SkyKick migration suite is a solution that enables IT consultants, systems integrators, managed service providers (MSPs) and VARs to automate an entire Office 365 migration project, reducing costs and accelerating deployment.
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Opening the barriers to Europe
James Arnold Roberts, director at Genius Networks looks at what the barriers are to doing international connectivity business in Europe, and how resellers can overcome them.
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Nest’s multichannel European strategy
A connected home is simply the first step on the journey towards a truly ‘conscious home’, according to Lionel Paillet, general manager Europe at Nest. The company, which Google purchased for US$3.2 billion at the start of 2014, is developing and deploying a multichannel European strategy as it looks to drive consumer adoption of new smart home technologies.
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TecTotal targets increased consumer services reach
This week’s DISTREE Brazil & Latin America channel event will also feature a range of companies offering value-added services for retailers. One such company is TecTotal, a leading provider of technical support, installation, configuration and customisation services for technology and electronics products. The company will use the event to meet partners that can help drive consumer awareness of TecTotal’s service offerings and open up new routes-to-market.
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Nest extends European retail channel reach
Smart home products and solutions outfit Nest Labs will extend its product availability into Belgium, France, Ireland and the Netherlands later this month. The Nest thermostat and Nest smoke and carbon monoxide alarm will be sold in 400 retail stores across Europe, with a further 150 stores to be added by the end of the year.
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Vendor giant Samsung has acquired SmartThings, a leading open platform for the smart home and the consumer Internet of Things (IoT). With Samsung’s resources and support, SmartThings hopes that it will be able to expand its platform and become available for even more partners and devices. SmartThings supports an open and growing ecosystem of developers, who are producing new types of connected devices and apps in the cloud that change how everyday objects work.
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DISTREE Events has launched a new summit series focused on how the retail channel will evolve to deliver smart technologies, solutions and services to consumers. The new session, entitled ‘Smart Channels: Retailing Connected Devices, Wearables and Internet of Things (IoT)’, will make its debut at DISTREE APAC in Singapore in October 2014. The ‘Smart Channels’ summit series will continue at DISTREE EMEA in Monaco in February 2015.
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INTERVIEW: Holger Knöpke, Deutsche Telekom
Holger Knöpke is head of connected home at Deutsche Telekom and is one of the driving forces behind the company’s QIVICON smart home project. QIVICON is an alliance of companies, initiated by Deutsche Telekom, with the aim of promoting the field of smart home technology and providing solutions for customers on a multi-manufacturer basis. Knöpke gave Channel EMEA some insight on what to expect in the smart home space in the years ahead.
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QIVICON ready to work with European retailers
The European technology retail channel has a pivotal role to play in driving consumer adoption of smart home solutions and delivering installation and support services, according to Thomas Knops, head of marketing at QIVICON. Knops said: “How smart home solutions are sold and consumer awareness is raised is a question that has not been answered yet. QIVICON has spoken to some 30 German retailers recently. They know that they can’t survive just selling flat screen TVs and they understand that smart homes are the future.”
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