LONDON, October 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading UK business communications specialists Central Telecom has retained one of the industry's most coveted awards for the fifth successive year.

Central, which employs more than 250 staff at its headquarters in Burton-on-Trent and regional offices in Guildford and the City of London, retained the title of Enterprise Converged Solution of the Year at the 7th annual Channel Network Awards held at The Hilton on Park Lane in London.

Central, a market leader in the field of convergence and IP Telephony won the title of Enterprise Convergence Solution of the Year for the fifth year in succession by designing and implementing a converged Nortel solution for Cheshire Building Society.

The solution also included a 5 year supply contract with Cheshire Building Society to provide managed services for the whole of their voice and data communications estate. The converged solution for the Society's North of England Headquarters included their 42 branches, a 55 seat multi media contact centre with an overflow of 25 located at Head Offices and branch networks. Central has also replaced their existing WAN with a BT MPLS solution across their entire network and are managing their inbound and outbound lines and minutes.

The Channel Network Awards, which are organised by BPL Business Ltd, publishers of Comms Dealer, Communicate and Channel Business and IT Europa, recognise best practice in client solutions and encourages channel partnerships and relationships across the whole of the IT, telephony, voice/data convergence and Internet industries.

The judges were looking for solutions that addressed real business issues and, where using the converged technology, benefited from dramatic cost savings, enhanced productivity or improved business processes with a particular focus on customer retention and competitive advantage benefits.

Central Telecom continue to set the standard for convergence solutions with their 5th consecutive award in this category at the Channel Network Awards, commented John Chapman, awards judging organiser.

Each year the competition gets tougher with more and stronger entries but Central keep their lead with complex solutions delivered with great expertise, giving tremendous results for their clients. All the entries to these awards have to be completed by the solution provider themselves and then they are independently judged. This ensures that each company gets an equal chance. So winning year on year is a great testament to Central Telecom's skill and expertise as well as their focus on delivering world class solutions for their clients.

The award for Enterprise Converged Solution comes hot on the heels of Central being named as Avaya UK Enterprise Business Partners of the Year and EMEA Business Partner of the Year. They are the only UK Company to be awarded the Avaya UK Enterprise Business Partner of the Year for the third year in succession and the first UK Company to win both awards together.

Andrew McDougall, Central's Managing Director saidCentral drives a high-level applications business and we pride ourselves on our ability to be first to market. I am very pleased to have won this award for the 5th successive year. It is a testimonial to our exceptional technical expertise across a wide range of applications and services and our ability to develop converged solutions that serve the unique needs of our customers.

About Central

Working in partnership with clients, Central provides innovative solutions that encompass infrastructure, application delivery and services. These extend beyond supply and services to incorporate assisting customers in defining their communication strategies; and designing, customising, building and implementing effective solutions that address key business and technology issues, delivering real business benefits. Their multi-vendor reseller capability allows them to offer a high level of integration across a broad portfolio of products, which has in turn enabled them to lead the field in consolidation and convergence solutions. The emergence of IP has allowed them to implement global communications solutions with a focus on Contact Centres, Unified Communications and CRM.

For further information on Central Telecom please view: http://www.central-telecom.co.uk

For further press information contact: Julie White, PR Director, +44-1283-560320, jwhite@central-telecom.co.uk

For further press information contact: Julie White, PR Director, +44-1283-560320, jwhite@central-telecom.co.uk