Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

Direct Routing management is a key driver for any company looking to adopt Microsoft Teams as a telephony platform. It gives administrators full visibility of their estate, full control over their assets and automated provisioning.

Companies looking to adopt Direct Routing should be looking for these key requirements in addition to number coverage, porting capabilities, guaranteed PSTN breakout with in-country caller ID and emergency services access.

Having a white label portal and complete API coverage, allows you to provide your customers with self-service access, reducing your support overheads.

Jola partners benefit from a competitively priced, fully automated direct routing product. We continue to innovate and provide tools to enable our partners to deliver effective solutions. Wholesale partners using our aggregated voice channel pricing model also benefit from built-in voice channel bursting and real time reporting within the managed portal.

Our solution includes detailed information about calls, participants and activities throughout monitored calls and meetings. With our PowerShell automation capabilities, provisioning for Direct Routing, compliance setup and policies is a seamless process.

Our automated configuration for Direct Routing is based on best-practice and Office 356 OAuth permissions. It gives all resellers the opportunity to sell, provision and manage Direct Routing within a self-serve portal or allow their customers to place and manage their own orders without the need for specialist knowledge, skills or software.

By providing the option of a true wholesale model, we are giving complete control over how partners wish to manage contention across their entire direct routing estate, enabling them to build their own tailored product, while taking advantage of a fully automated provisioning process.

At an average of 9000 a day in 2021, Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks worldwide were up around 30% on 2020, with the UK suffering the third highest behind the USA and France. In October 2021 Commscouncil.uk reported sustained attacks on several of their members operating VOIP networks. DDoS and Ransomware attacks are the biggest threat to network operators and their customers.

Jola recently built a fully redundant, highly scalable IP edge network specifically designed to deliver high performance and secure mobile data services. Jola announced today that their partners’ critical services now run over the Cloudflare network. Cloudflare’s 121 Tbps worldwide network blocks an average of 86 billion threats per day, including some of the largest DDoS attacks in history.

Adrian Sunderland, CTO, commented, ‘The Jola network is built on technology from Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare and Cisco and underpins our Fixed IP and Private APN services. We are the first MVNO in the world to partner with Cloudflare to ensure secure, fast delivery across our network. Cloudflare gives Jola partners protection against DDOS attacks but more importantly peace of mind that we are using world-class suppliers to prevent new threats as they emerge.’

Ambitious channel companies are always looking to recruit, develop and retain talented employees to help them grow. Statistics show that highly engaged and rewarded staff are more productive. Satisfied employees tend to be more loyal to the company and deliver higher levels of customer service.

Jola certainly thinks so, as they recently rolled out a very generous EMI scheme which is planned to deliver six figure pay-outs to their most loyal and high-performing employees. Jola’s EMI scheme grants share options to every employee. Jola employees are allotted a number of shares that they can buy and at the next transaction Jola employees will benefit from the increase they have created in the value of the business.

Andrew Dickinson, CEO commented, “We ran a similar scheme at Griffin and it was very successful. Each member of the team has a part to play in the growth of the company. They all have individual KPIs which contribute to the success of the business. We hold monthly meetings so every member of the team can see where we are against the growth target we are all working to. We have some brilliant talent within the business and it is important to us to reward everyone who works in Jola.”

A Fixed IP data SIM comes with a static, public IP address. It allows for a two-way connection between the smart device and the Internet.

MultiNet

MultiNet fixed IP versions are also available, which will work on multiple mobile networks. SIMs can be unsteered and will connect to multiple mobile networks.

What are the benefits?

Fixed IP addresses enable inbound Internet connections for CCTV cameras, M2M remote management devices etc.

What are the risks?

Devices can be hacked. Digital signage in train stations and shops have been hacked and their content replaced.

What solutions are available?

Jola has built a fully redundant, highly scalable IP edge network specifically designed to deliver high-performance and secure mobile data services. The network is built on technology from Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare and Cisco and underpins our fixed IP and private APN services. Companies that need remote access to devices require fixed IP SIMs, and Jola has recently launched a range of true MultiNet fixed IP packages to meet this requirement, which are protected from DDOS attacks.

Jola partners use MultiNet fixed IP SIMs in a variety of applications, including vending machines, smart billboards, vehicle tracking and monitoring devices as well as CCTV cameras. Our solutions roam across all four mobile networks in the UK and come with a UK IP address. They are really cost-effective and provide resellers with a reliable and secure connectivity solution for their connected devices.

In a recent article, Vodafone UK outlined plans to start retiring its 3G network in 2023. They are planning to use the freed-up spectrum to improve the speed and coverage of 4G and 5G networks.  EE plans to phase out 3G services by 2023. On December 21, the UK government announced that it had agreed with all four UK mobile operators to switch off all public 2G and 3G networks by 2033.

What does this mean for the channel?

This presents a good opportunity for the channel to help their customers support devices, such as payment terminals, trackers and ATM machines currently using 2G and 3G networks. There is an opportunity to replace devices and, in some cases, to replace SIMs at the same time.

Jola

Forward-thinking companies such as Jola are already helping their 1000+ partner base to find and win this lucrative business with a combination of a tried-and-tested six-stage process, a wide range of cost-effective, unique and differentiated services and real-time, automated management portals.

Jola has acquired Zapappi, a wholesale SIP provider, to bolster their SIP and PSTN replacement services to the channel.

Many SMEs will leave it to the last minute, but larger organisations have realised the potential scope of a PSTN/ISDN replacement project. Jola partners are already seeing tenders from their flagship customers. As with many new technologies, organisations prefer to award these contracts to existing suppliers, but only if they can demonstrate the capability to deliver the entire project.

They usually require three types of IP solution 1) where ISDN or PSTN numbers need to be ported onto a fixed broadband or Ethernet connectivity over SIP 2) where existing numbers need to be overlayed onto a 4G/4G+/5G mobile broadband connection, and 3) where the requirement is for a mobile broadband connection, but a landline number is not required and a 07x number is preferred.

Number porting in the UK is still not an easy process, and projects have run into difficulties where resellers have tried to juggle a number of different suppliers.

“With Jola’s recent acquisition of Zapappi, their network, their SIP Management platform, and suite of porting tools, we have the experience to support resellers in delivering an entire network upgrade, fixed line and mobile, at wholesale prices low enough to win these projects at decent margins.

For many applications (e.g., taxis, street lighting, signage, lifts etc), to be forced to upgrade from a single fixed telephone line to broadband would be a significant extra cost. For the millions of telephone lines that fall into this category the solution is mobile data, and where end users need to keep their existing phone numbers, the acquisition of Zapappi creates a differentiated offering and a margin opportunity for Jola partners.

Jola is the UK’s #1 supplier of mobile data to the channel and only we have the infrastructure, capability and experience to supply resellers and MSPs with a 100% end-to-end automated solution for PSTN/ISDN replacement projects.” Andrew Dickinson, CEO.

"We’ve worked closely with Jola for a number of years, and it’s great to be one team. All of Jola’s 1000+ partners are prospects for Zapappi products and our technology completes the Jola portfolio. Any Jola reseller serious about mobile data, SIP, Teams DR and the opportunities arising from the impending PSTN switch-off and retirement of 2G and 3G networks, will be excited by this announcement.” Ben Merrills, CEO Zapappi.

Many roaming SIMs in the UK come from foreign mobile networks and have profiles that allow roaming in the UK and the rest of Europe.  However, through the UK channel, most M2M and IoT applications, using un-steered roaming SIMs, actually never leave the UK. These customers are paying for European roaming they never use and because they often come with a European IP address they may be suitable for some applications but not usually anything that requires web browsing.

In response to this, Jola has created a competitively priced, UK IP addressed, un-steered roaming SIM that provides access to all the UK mobile networks the customer needs with none of the networks the customer doesn’t. Private APN options are also available for customers who need to build a secure private network using mobile connectivity.

Adrian Sunderland, CTO, commented, ‘Jola has built a fully redundant, highly scalable IP edge network specifically designed to deliver high performance and secure mobile data services.  The network is built on technology from Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare and Cisco and underpins our Fixed IP and Private APN services.

Our Private APN enables partners to establish secure, private 4G networks, with no set-up charge, and low monthly fees. All of these services are delivered via Jola’s award-winning, self-service management portal, Mobile Manager.

We have a trusted six step process to help partners uncover and win opportunities and we believe we are best-placed to help the channel grow lucrative revenue streams by offering the widest range of differentiated mobile data solutions in a market-leading, automated management portal.’

Many SMEs will leave it to the last minute but larger organisations have realised the potential scope of a PSTN/ISDN Replacement project and Jola partners are already seeing tenders from their flagship customers. As with many new technologies, organisations prefer to award these contracts to existing suppliers, but only if they can demonstrate the capability to deliver the entire project.

They usually require three types of IP solution 1) where ISDN and PSTN numbers need to be ported onto a fixed broadband or Ethernet connection 2) where existing numbers need to be ported onto a 4G/4G+/5G mobile broadband connection, and 3) where the requirement is for a mobile broadband connection but a landline number is not required and a 07x number is preferred.

Number porting in the UK is still not a fully matured process and early projects have run into difficulties where the reseller has tried to juggle a number of different suppliers.

Partners bidding to win mobile data opportunities for M2M and IoT solutions such as 4G SIMs in tablets in the public sector or MultiNet SIMs in smart water meters are being asked very specific questions about their portal. End-users want to know how real-time the data is and how automated the portal is. It is essential in the public sector, who are working to tight budgets who have been burnt before with high data overage charges, no visibility and no direct access to make changes to their estate.

Adrian Sunderland, CTO, commented, ‘I have noticed a trend when working with MSPs on IoT bids. End users do not want multiple supplier portals to deal with, they want the ability to order a wide range of technologies from multiple network operators in a single portal. They want direct access to activate SIMs, add bolt-ons and share data across accounts. They need access for their end user to be able to monitor usage in real-time. Suppliers who can offer real-time, automated portals are better placed to win the deals.’