Telstra acquires managed services provider VMtech
Telstra has announced the acquisition of Australian managed services provider VMtech for an undisclosed amount, in another push to expand its Network Applications and Services (NAS) business arm globally.
The hybrid cloud services company, based in Sydney, has "expertise" in designing, delivering, and managing enterprise-grade connectivity, security, and hybrid cloud services, Telstra said, which will be used to bolster the telco's IT consulting business.
"Customers are looking to us to provide hybrid solutions for their network, security, and cloud infrastructure, as well as support with defining, architecting, implementing, and managing these solutions," Telstra executive director of Business Technology Services (BTS) Christopher Smith explained.
"Telstra's multi-cloud strategy is to provide customers with integrated hybrid cloud solutions and managed services through unified platforms across cloud and on-premise[s] infrastructure and applications."
VMtech has approximately 75 staff members, and provides managed services to both enterprise and government customers across New South Wales and Victoria, including Coca-Cola, ME Bank, Komatsu, Mission Australia, and Sydney's Inner West Council.
According to VMtech Co-Founder and CEO Len Findlay, the company has been partnered with Telstra since 2013. Under the acquisition, Findlay said VMtech would combine its hybrid cloud capabilities with Telstra's network and security solutions.
During FY17, Telstra's NAS business arm brought in AU$3.4 billion in revenue, up by 30.6 percent thanks to its expansion in professional services and hardware sales.
Industry solutions revenue grew by 66 percent; cloud services increased by 50.2 percent; and unified communications increased by 8.8 percent.
Smith added on Thursday that the Telstra Programmable Network (TPN) will provide the scalable connectivity between customers and their cloud environments, and pointed towards Telstra's previous acquisitions of Kloud, Readify, MSC Mobility, and Company85 as allowing the telco to expand its business of assisting in digital transformation.
Telstra had acquired datacentre, cloud, and security services provider Company85 in June in an effort to expand its technology consulting services into government and enterprise throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.
Headquartered in London, Company85 has customers such as the BBC, NHS, London City Airport, Royal Mail, JP Morgan, and AstraZeneca.
Readify, a developer of Microsoft software applications, was acquired by Telstra in July last year to bolster the telecommunications provider's cloud offerings.
This followed Telstra's Kloud acquisition in January 2016 to provide professional and managed services to corporate and government customers across Australia and Asia Pacific, as well as supply solutions for productivity, identity, security, application development, and cloud infrastructure for enterprise cloud applications.
Jim Fagan, director of Platforms in Telstra's Global Products business, last year said Kloud and Readify have enabled the telco to provide a more effective and simpler onboarding process for its customers transitioning to the cloud.
Telstra launched TPN in May, calling it a network-as-a-service offering via combining its networks, cloud platform, datacentres, network function virtualisation (NFV), and software-defined networking (SDN) capabilities in one integrated platform. It has since added a virtual branch network software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) solution in partnership with VeloCloud.
Other managed services-related acquisitions over the past few years have seen Telstra take ownership of unified communications solutions and contact centre provider North Shore Connections (NSC) Group in August 2013; network integration services provider O2 Networks for a reported AU$60 million in January 2014; and information security, networking, and data management provider Bridgepoint in October 2014, along with investing in Chinese cloud company Qiniu in January 2016.
Telstra additionally acquired Australian GPS and telematics fleet-management solutions provider MTData in what it said is a bid to increase its Internet of Things (IoT) business globally.
According to Telstra, MTData currently provides compliance and safety solutions that improve productivity and reduce operating costs for customers, which it said would allow it accelerate the delivery of its enterprise connected vehicles offering.
By integrating with Telstra, MTData CEO and co-founder Matthew Bellizia said the company would be able to provide its customers with access to new and existing technologies, such as asset tracking and location data across the utilities, agriculture, and resources industries.
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