Nexus IP, the North London based telephone systems specialists, has an established history of working with recognised industry leaders. Those relationships ensure that the company remains at the cutting edge of communications technology. Naturally the advantage of providing the best integrated call recording and call logging technology forms an essential component in the Nexus IP portfolio.

We’ve worked with Oak for a long time. The confidence both companies share in each other’s ability is apparent and we know that this will continue to enhance our standing in our market place – Managing Director Mark Casey

Mark Casey from Nexus IP Ltd

This is a great opportunity to meet us face to face and learn more about our products.  You’ll be able to see our ‘award winning’ recordX, Call Recording product and meet some of the Oak team on stand 30 and 31 so come and see us!

Our entry is based around our recordX and Comms Suite X. 

“Well done to everyone at Oak who has made this possible, it’s a great achievement and one you should all be proud of” commented Phillip Reynolds.

Rather than give you a blow by blow account of the race (it’s quite boring really just put one foot in front of the other about 40,000 times and then stop) I thought I might be a little more interesting (feel free to read that as less boring) of the logistics of the marathon – especially for all those ready to sign up for next year!

Firstly you need to enter of which there are 3 main ways :-

1) Be half decent and get a Good For Age place. They need to spread runners out over the whole course so if you can run 3:10 or under you’re in. Simples.

2) Via the on-line ballot. Always oversubscribed and you don’t find out until October that you’re in. Usually a 1 in 5 chance of getting in. Open to anyone.

3) Via a charity. If you contact a charity they’ll have a figure in mind (usually £1000 and upwards) that you need to agree to raise to take one of their Golden Bond Places in the marathon.

Oak's Marathon Man!

So once you’re in and you’ve done some training you need to register at the Expo held at ExCel. Most people do this on Friday or Saturday and for first timers they love the buzz all the other people, seeing all the stands at the Expo and generally feeling the marathon experience has begun. For a seasoned runner it’s a complete pain in the butt having to traipse across London the day before a big race just to pick up your number, timing chip (to be attached to your shoe) and luggage bag. The frustration is partially eased by getting a goody bag containing a Mars Bar and a can of London Pride amongst other things.

Okay so it’s marathon day. You need to get to Blackheath in plenty of time for the start at 0945. Train travel is free for competitors and extra trains are laid on to get you down there. I got the 0730 from London Bridge and 15minutes later I’m walking with the other runners across to the start. Going that early means it’s stress free and the train is nowhere near full – I had a double seat to myself. You’ve then got a little time to kill. There’s music, interviews, big screens, free water, lucozade, tea and coffee. As you’d expect the queues for the toilets are long and get longer the closer you get to the B of B-A-N-G. A tip for the men – take an empty bottle or two with you and you can discreetly fill it without having to join the queues. Just remember to throw it away so some poor soul doesn’t mistake it for an isotonic drink!

At the Expo you’re given a big drawstring bag with your number on it. This is the only bag the official baggage lorries will take. You put in there anything you’re going to need at the finish – clothes, food, phone etc. There’s probably about 1000 bags per lorry and they’re all numbered accordingly. The trucks are shut up 15minutes before the start and have police escort via the empty streets to the finish where they all get lined up in number order and someone congratulates you and hands you your belongings back. Talk of military precision is not misplaced and the efficiency with which the operation is carried out despite it being manned exclusively by volunteers and involving 35,000 highly stressed individuals is mightily impressive.

The all important start

So now it’s nearly time and each of the three starts (Red, Green and Blue) contains holding pens corresponding to your predicted finishing time to stop the rhinos (in costume I’m not being rude!) starting in front of the racing whippets. You’re checked in by a marshall to make sure you start where you ought to. There’s no real need to worry as outside people in the proper race (the elites) everyone’s official time is given from the moment you cross the start line until you reach the finish 26.2miles later in the Mall. There’s a lot of people around and hopefully the weather is good as it was Sunday, if not an old jumper and/or bin bag (new not old is better!) will keep you warm until you’re off.

And then there’s the guy on the mike whipping you up into a frenzy, followed by the countdown, followed by the start of the greatest race on earth. So left foot in front of right 40,000 times and you’re done. Do it, you won’t regret it – don’t take my word for it ask Phil.

For those who are interested here’s the tale of the tape for me for Sunday. As you can see I ran the race at a pretty even pace and at halfway I was just inside the top 700 and ended up inside the top 300. I think that proves that the majority of people (even trained runners around me) routinely start too fast and as a result finish too slow.

There are three principle reasons why we attend each year.  Firstly, we have dozens of good discussions with existing resellers, mainly from the North and Scotland; secondly, there are always some new people to engage with; and thirdly, it is good to maintain a visual presence in the channel. Some companies are noticed by their absence….’

 Principle products shown were Oak’s CommsSuite X products, with an emphasis on call recording, call logging, and unified communications, and Oak were joined throughout the event by Ian Massingham, EMEA Sales Director of AVST.  Oak took UK distibution of AVST’s CallXpress voice recognition and unified messaging product in January of this year, and are already engaging with the channel on a nationwide basis.

As usual CSN was a work hard, play hard event, and the networking evening, this year held at Manchester’s Comedy Store, was the usual….’standard’

Oak does business

The Comms Business Awards 2011 are held at one of London’s most prestigious hotels – Lancaster London – on the evening of Thursday, 23rd June.

Independently judged, The Comms Business Awards are designed to genuinely recognise excellence in the Channel. Acknowledging the successes of the reseller community, the vendors, distributors and service providers as well as those successful individuals who truly set the standard, these Awards are the industry’s most sought after accolade.

For more information visit http://www.commsbusinessawards.co.uk/

Details used with kind permission of Comms Business Magazine.

Hays Hampers

We’re delighted to announce that John Gander from RNIB was the lucky winner of the Hamper, with the following caption:-

“I love Oak because:  it adds such a lovely flavour to the whisky”.

John also commented “I have been using Oak software now for some 10 years and I have always been impressed with the ease in which it can be used, the information that can be obtained and, when I have had a spot of bother, the professionalism and friendliness of the support team“.

Congratulations!

We will be on stands 21 and 24, come and see us! Follow this link for more details: Convergance Summit North 2011

iPad Winner Sam Vaughan

Sam works for Oxford Innovation (OI) as Centre Manager for two of their Innovation Centres. OI has 15 Business and Innovation Centres all over the country offering serviced office space for small and start up companies. We have used Oak’s equipment for a number of years now, using the telephone reporting system within our centres to assist with the reporting and monthly billing of calls made by the companies.

Oak’s trainers have visited our sites to ensure all staff understand and can programme and use the system correctly. We have always found Oak’s systems and staff to be helpful and useful over the years.

We’d like to say a big thanks to everyone who entered and provided us with such valuable feedback.
Be sure to keep an eye on the Oak blog for future competitions, as well as all the latest news and commentary from Oak.