This week in the ICT channel

For over 25 years Comms Dealer magazine has been a trusted source for the latest UK ICT channel news and industry analysis. Every friday morning, Comms Dealer magazine rounds up the top channel news that broke during the week.

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In this week's news...

LDC exits Kerv following successful three years

LDC has exited its investment in Kerv following a three-year partnership, that saw the cloud services provider grow five-fold from ￡20m to ￡100m.

As part of the transaction, Bridgepoint Development Capital has invested in Kerv for a majority shareholding and LDC has reinvested ￡30m to support the continued growth of the business.

LDC supported the creation of Kerv in July 2020 when it backed founders Alastair Mills and Michael Ing to merge three cloud-based managed services businesses. LDC invested ￡22m in the initial transaction and, over the course of the next three and a half years, provided ￡20m in follow on funding.

During these three years, Kerv’s EBITDA grew from ￡3m to nearly ￡20m and the company’s headcount from 100 to 700.

Founders Alastair Mills and Mike Ing, alongside the rest of the Kerv management team, will continue to lead the business, supported by Bridgepoint and LDC, and plans to continue its acquisition strategy.

Ing said “This significant milestone will enable us to continue to deliver on our mission to harness the power of technology for the good of our people, our customers, our society and our planet at even greater scale.”

Aylesh Patel , Partner and Head of South at LDC, added: “Alastair, Mike and the team brought together three complementary businesses at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and have created one of the fastest growing cloud and digital services providers in the UK.”

Strategic Imperatives and X3T merge operations

Strategic Imperatives has merged with X3T to leverage the company’s wholesaling solution and financial backing.

The X3T platform is built for wholesale networks to facilitate simple integration for ISPs. It was established by investors Granahan McCourt Capital last year with backing from Asterion Industrial Partners, Oak Hill Advisors, Tetrad and Twin Point Capital.

The merger will provide a boost to Strategic Imperative’s Fibre Café solution, a SaaS platform enabling collaboration between altnets and ISPs and currently integrates over three million connections.

Wail Sabbagh , MD at Strategic Imperatives, said: “This merger supports our vision to make The Fibre Café the leading unified interface to the UK’s fibre ecosystem and the gateway to a connected Britain.

“We will accelerate our continued investment and rollout with the financial backing and global expertise that this merger provides.”

Dave McCourt , Chairman of Granahan McCourt Capital and X3T, added: “As an investor, owner and operator, we know first-hand that the combined capabilities of X3T and Strategic Imperatives provides the blueprint for altnets and ISPs to scale.”

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Westcon-Comstor enhances cloud capabilities with Rebura deal

Westcon-Comstor partners will be able to offer a wider suite of AWS solutions to customers following the distributor’s acquisition of Rebura LTD.

The deal strengthens Westcon-Comstor’s cloud capabilities and channel-focused offering with cloud consultancy, migration services, FinOps and security-aligned professional services.

Rebura, which holds seven competencies with AWS, will be maintained as a separate standalone organisation and form the foundation of Westcon-Comstor’s AWS line of business.

David Grant , CEO at Westcon-Comstor, said: “Migrating workloads to the cloud and maintaining security resilience represents a significant opportunity for the channel, but many of our partners do not have the AWS migration and security skills needed to support their customers on this journey.

“Our partners will now be able to access these capabilities through Rebura as part of a seamless and unique proposition.”

Aaron Rees , Founder and CEO at Rebura, added: “Westcon-Comstor’s global reach and channel connections will give us a much bigger platform from which to grow.”

Neos simplifies wholesale ordering process

Neos Networks has updated the pathway for wholesale customers to provision its services with their own platform.

This comes through 15 new features on its digital platform, LIVEQUOTE, which include real-time order and quote status, multi-quote and order baskets, chat messaging, location-based real-time availability, and enhanced personalisation.

APIs ensure these services and functionality are also available in customer environments.

Mark Charlesworth , Director of Product, at Neos Networks, said: “Our focus is on giving our customers more choices while ensuring consistent and accurate information across all transactions.

“This upgrade reflects our commitment to supporting our customers’ growth and transformation by delivering a better end-to-end experience, tailored to the diverse needs of both our wholesale and enterprise clients.”

Nuvias UC adds Spectralink to portfolio

Nuvias UC channel partners can now access Spectralink’s mobile communication and collaboration devices following a distribution agreement between the companies.

According to Nuvias UC CCO Wayne Gratton , the partnership follows demand for enterprise-grade smartphone solutions in voice-critical, mobility-heavy industries.

He said: “Our focus is on building complete solutions and the seamless integration Spectralink offers with key vendors we already collaborate with solidifies their role in enhancing our portfolio.”

Andy Macqueen , EMEA Business Development Director at Spectralink Corporation added: “Nuvias UC represent a key part of our channel strategy, to support the acceleration of UCaaS adoption with our global Communication Service Providers.”

Spitfire set for mobile data push in 2024

Spitfire Network Services Ltd will make a full push into mobile data and IoT in 2024 after spending the last 2023 evolving its service offering, according to MD Harry Bowlby .

In October the company launched a full MVNO solution, One Network, through an agreement with BT Wholesale, that will spearhead the company’s strategy in 2024.

The company also launched ‘Spitfire IP Voice, launched as a direct replacement for analogue telephone line services.

In November, Spitfire became the first wholesale partner of G.Network Communications and the company also announced an extension to its wholesale partnership with CityFibre, agreeing to sell its layer 2 Business Fibre to the Premises broadband product.

Bowlby said, “2023 was transformative in terms of how the services we offer our customers have evolved.

“We are now focused on 2024 and building on the momentum we have created and will be making a full push into mobile data and IoT.”

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