Pulsant buys Onyx, appoints Mike Tobin chairman

The cloud computing and managed hosting company Pulsant has bought Onyx, an IT infrastructure services provider. The acquisition forms part of a strategy of Pulsant to strengthen its market position regionally.

Onyx provides cloud, colocation, remote and on-site IT management, workplace recovery, applications management and security solutions to customers. The company has five data centres in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield and Newcastle in the United Kingdom and other business continuity centres and offices around the country. The company's staff, technology platforms and infrastructure will be integrated with Pulsant's over the coming months.

The combined business will have 400 staff, revenues of £75 million and over 4,000 customers in a variety of industries. Its operations are underpinned by a network of 15 data centres and advanced private, multi-tenanted and public cloud platforms.

The acquisition will enhance Pulsant's capabilities as a provider of hybrid IT services - particularly in the areas of applications management, remote and on-site managed services, workplace recovery and security - and expand its reach in the UK to deliver more options for resiliency and a stronger portfolio of solutions to customers. 

Speaking to Capacity Mike Tobin OBE, new Pulsant Chairman said: “The acquisition was approximately £65 million, and it enhances our position in data centres and managed services across a wider geographical spread. It gives us a new set of locations in the North East and South of the UK. The purchase is the latest step in a planned acquisition strategy so expect more to come.”

Tobin was previously CEO at Telecity for 13 years, where he led its growth from a market cap of £6m to £1.6bn, and floated it on the London Stock Exchange in 2007.

Neil Stephenson, Onyx CEO, said: "Both businesses have complementary capabilities and locations, and this acquisition enables the enlarged business to offer a stronger, broader range of services to our customers."

The combined business will have almost 400 staff, revenues of £75m and over 4,000 customers in a variety of industries. Its operations are underpinned by a network of 15 owned and operated data centres across in the UK, and leading-edge private, multi-tenanted and public cloud platforms.

One of the main benefits of the merger will be the ability to handle complex hybrid cloud applications - particularly in the areas of applications management, remote and on-site managed services, workplace recovery and security - and expand its reach in the UK to deliver more options for resiliency and a stronger portfolio of solutions to customers.