This acquisition creates Europe’s largest mid-tier provider of integrated hosting and network services

November 23^rd, 2012 – Claranet, one of Europe’s leading managed service providers, has acquired Star, a UK provider of managed technology services. The acquisition creates the largest mid-market provider of integrated hosting and network services in the UK and continental Europe.

Claranet is acquiring STH Limited and its subsidiary, Star Technology Services, in a deal valued at £55 million. The trading entities will be maintained and will become wholly owned by Claranet Limited.

Charles Nasser, CEO and Founder of the Claranet Group, stated:

From a market and customer perspective, this is a great opportunity to bring together the experience and resources of two great companies to deliver a broader service portfolio to benefit our customers. It’s our mission to help our customers make the most of internet-enabled technology, and the acquisition of Star will enable us to continue to deliver on this promise.

“This announcement confirms our ambition to become the clear European leader in the delivery of managed services,” he added. “This is nothing short of a British entrepreneurial success story, as both companies were founded here in the UK.”

Operating under the Claranet brand, the expanded company will have revenues of over £120 million, circa 700 staff, over 4,500 customers, and operations in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. Claranet’s customers will include Airbus, Amnesty International, Care UK, Channel 5, Veolia, Signet, CSH, IRIS, De Vere Hotels and Richmond Events.

The new business will have a service portfolio ranging from the data centre to the desktop. In addition to managed hosting and network services, which both companies provide to many customers, Star customers will be able to take advantage of Claranet’s pan-European, award-winning Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering, Virtual Data Centre, as well as advanced managed application hosting services. Meanwhile, Star’s strength in Unified Communications, remote desktop and advance security services will complement Claranet’s existing portfolio.

In addition, Star’s customers will be able to take advantage of Claranet’s European operations and benefit from the knowledge that the enlarged company is on a strong financial footing, with far greater purchasing power in the market.

Michel Robert, MD of Claranet UK, added:

Star is a leader in providing managed services in the UK and therefore a natural fit for Claranet. Star has developed a strong base of customers, has a well-defined service portfolio as well as a talented and dedicated team,”

“It is this very success that makes Star such a logical fit for Claranet, and as part of our continued investment in evolving our services, is one that will directly benefit our customers,” he added.

Ben White, co-founder of Star and a partner at the cloud-focused venture investor Notion Capital, added:

The cultural and strategic compatibility of the two businesses is second to none and I am confident that the enlarged group will go on to even greater things, creating significant opportunities for customers, partners and staff.”

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Ares Capital Europe and a minority investment by Abry Partners financed the acquisition.

Advisors on the transaction are Oakley Capital, acting for Claranet, and Ernst & Young, acting for Star.

Find out more:

• For more information about Claranet visit Claranet limited
• For more information about Star, visit Star

Claranet’s product director, Martin Saunders, gives his view on the implications of new 4G technology alongside other industry experts…

“Construction firms will be able to set up on- site offices quickly, and security firms will be able to install CCTV in record time,” he says. “Not only that, but independent retailers will have the opportunity to set up pop-up shops quickly without waiting multiple weeks’ lease time for fixed-line broadband to be installed.” Similarly, firms processing credit card transactions could use a 4G connection as a backup option in the event that their fixed- line broadband connection goes down, says Martin Saunders, product director at managed services provider Claranet.

“Because of changes that have been happening around the Payment Card Industry Digital Security Standard (PCI DSS), it has become less and less viable for merchants to be storing credit card information, just in case their broadband connection goes down,” he explains. 4G could also prove useful for businesses that transact payments using mobile devices, argues Dan Wagner, founder of mobile payments service mPowa, and could allow mobile salespeople to process payments while on the go.

“Our business initiative is based around mobility and the fact that people can take payments on the move,” he says. “Obviously you need good connections and good data interaction in order to be able to achieve that when you’re travelling.”

If 4G services really deliver the kind of bandwidth and network performance that the telcos are promising, then some companies might begin to wonder why they buy fixed-line broadband at all.
Claranet’s Saunders says this is not entirely misguided. Office broadband consumption should – in theory – be lower per individual than home use, as employees should be reading emails and sharing data, not streaming online videos. In certain cases, therefore, 4G services may replace some or all of a company’s fixed-line broadband consumption.

Before making the leap, however, IT leaders would be advised to look at their network usage statistics, to check the true profile of their current consumption, Saunders says. Furthermore, he argues that having good customer services and security is far more important for a business than the outright amount of bandwidth on offer.

Customer service

Saunders adds that his customers are particularly interested in 4G in the context of customer-facing operations. “Businesses will be able to deploy iPads in stores, allowing customers to browse catalogues,” he says. “Being able to secure the connection without having to run a complex VPN client is resulting in much interest from businesses in this area.” As well as the impact of 4G on their own networks, businesses must be mindful of its effect on customer behaviour. Most obviously, it is reasonable to assume that improved mobile broadband services will enable more mobile commerce. In response to an Ofcom consultation on mobile competition, US online auction company eBay cited a study it had commissioned into consumer attitudes to m-commerce.

The study asked consumers what barriers prevented them from using their mobile devices for shopping. Of the 1,500 surveyed, 65% said connection speed, 63% said the reliability of their mobile Internet connection, 62% said the cost of mobile Internet services and 52% cited network coverage.

“An item is purchased every second in the UK through eBay mobile apps, and for our users mobile shopping is all about convenience and speed,” explains Oliver Ropars, senior director for EU Mobile at eBay. “A faster connection with 4G will help make the shopping experience even more appealing for customers.”

Beyond retail, businesses could use the improved multimedia capabilities allowed by 4G services to interact with customers. “Consultancies will be able to host video conference calls with clients while on the move,” says EE’s Stiven.

Forrester analyst Thomas Husson says it is not just the speed of 4G services that will allow richer multimedia experiences for customers, but also improved latency.

“Services that require not just higher speeds but also good latency will result in a much better experience for consumers,” says Husson. “The time to interact between the network will be lower, so there will be interesting use cases for multitasking services, multiplayer gaming and anything related to video.”

Claranet’s Saunders is sceptical that 4G will necessarily improve network latency, unless mobile operators invest in sufficient back-end infrastructure. If the networks don’t have capacity, it doesn’t matter what technology you run on the radio, it’s never going to be as good,” he says. “In that scenario, while 4G will be fine for regular Internet browsing and downloads, it won’t resolve the whole issue around latency and how responsive the network feels.”

Sylvain Fabre of analyst company Gartner agrees, saying that high-definition video and voice-over-IP (VoIP) services may still suffer from packet loss on 4G networks.

“Packet loss and other IP issues that result in one person getting cut off when the other talks could still occur if the network is congested,” he says. “Suddenly the lower-quality yet clear two-way communication that you’re used to on a good voice call doesn’t really work and can become annoying.”

Fabre adds that businesses offering 4G services inside buildings, whether for employees or customers, may experience signal degradation. “It’s going to be harder to get a connection inside buildings until somebody does an in- building solution that maybe uses distributed antennas,” he says.

With numerous handsets with LTE connectivity due to be released over the next year or so, Fabre says that businesses will also have to ensure that they purchase, or are issued with, devices compatible with their 4G provider’s spectrum frequency to avoid employees being left “out of the loop” due to owning incompatible phones. “The technology doesn’t simply resolve all these things, it introduces new challenges too,” says Fabre.

Of course, it is not possible to predict entirely the impact of 4G at this point. EE’s Stiven argues that only once 4G services are widely available will innovation around applications really take off.

“The really exciting bit is that organisations in 12 months’ time will have thought of a whole range of other innovative ways they can use it,” he says. “There are a lot of things we haven’t foreseen that 4G is useful for that will become a real engine for growth.”

Claranet’s Saunders advises companies against making rash decisions about 4G. “I’d say ‘watch this space’, and don’t make any quick moves,” he says.

In particular, he warns against choosing a mobile operator simply on the basis of its mobile broadband speeds. “I’d say it’s more important to look for customer services that make your life easier.” Still, with mobile platforms threatening to eclipse fixed-line infrastructure as the dominant communications medium for business, IT leaders would be well advised to keep an eye on developments in the 4G arena, as they are certain to offer up opportunities for innovation and efficiency.

Find out more:

• To read the full article, go to Information Age
• For more information about Claranet’s mobile broadband service, visit wireless services
• For more information about Claranet’s managed network services, visit managed networks

Netherlands roll-out creates one of Europe’s widest Infrastructure-as-a-Service networks

Claranet today announces that its Virtual Data Centre (VDC), the multi-award winning “click-and-provision” cloud infrastructure service, has gone live in the Netherlands, creating one of the most geographically diverse Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) networks in Europe.

The launch follows this summer’s successful roll-out in France and Germany, and caps a string of successes which has seen Claranet’s VDC service win the TechWorld and Data Centre Awards, as well as being shortlisted for the forthcoming Storage, Virtualisation & Cloud (SVC) awards.

The new Netherlands’ service has been built to the same standards as the UK, French and German services, featuring full integration with Claranet’s European MPLS network, a ground-breaking software orchestration layer which makes it compatible with every type of hypervisor, and a portal-based “drag-and-drop” interface. And as with all iterations of Claranet VDC, it is based in a local data centre which, in this instance, is located near Eindhoven.

Today’s launch is great news for Claranet’s Dutch customers, many of whom have been looking forward to their own local version of VDC ever since the UK version launched,” said Ruud Joosten, Managing Director of Claranet Benelux. “Several of our customers have been using the UK version of VDC since it launched late last year; now they will be able to migrate to the local service simply by sending it across Claranet’s secure MPLS network and re-creating their data, applications and virtual resources locally in minutes.

“Obviously, Dutch businesses want their data to reside in the same country where they have their headquarters, and we have a number of existing customers lined up to migrate over to the new locally-based service. The expanded European footprint will also enable Claranet Group to target a range of bigger, multi-national corporations, since we know of no other providers that can boast a comparable service – with an integrated network, hypervisor agnosticism and in-country data centres – across so many territories in Europe,” continued Joosten.

The award-winning service was launched in the UK in late 2011 and enables users to build their own data centre in the cloud and provision it with compute, storage and networking resources with a few clicks of a mouse. The Claranet Virtual Data Centre (VDC) also provides a burst capability for periods of unexpectedly high demand, so users pay only for the assets that they use.

Claranet’s Virtual Data Centre was designed following extensive research that the company undertook into customers’ concerns about cloud services; this found that data sovereignty, reliability and ease of migration were the key concerns for organisations that had yet to move into the cloud. Having identified these concerns, Claranet designed a service so that data always resides in local jurisdictions, that is integrated with Claranet’s network and that it is compatible with multiple hypervisor technologies.

Find out more:

• For more information about Claranet’s award-winning Virtual Data Centre, visit Virtual Data Centre.
• For more information about Claranet’s cloud services, visit cloud services.
• For more information about Claranet’s hosting portfolio, visit hosting services.

Press coverage:

• Datacenter Dynamics – Claranet launches Virtual Data Centre in Holland
  
• IT Europa – Claranet’s data centre goes Dutch
• IT Reseller – Claranet Virtual Data Centre goes Dutch
• Datacentre Solutions UK – Claranet Virtual Data Centre goes Dutch
• Datacentre Solutions Europe – Claranet Virtual Data Centre goes Dutch
• Cloud Computing 365 – Claranet Virtual Data Centre goes Dutch

Leading solutions providers announce partnership to deliver business connectivity solutions

MAM Software is pleased to announce it has partnered with Claranet, one of Europe’s leading managed service providers, to deliver a range of network connectivity solutions to its customers.

Promoted under the brand ‘MAM Network Solutions (MNS)’, the service provides a reliable and secure infrastructure on which to operate multi-branch networks or hosted software. Providing high-capacity, real-time connectivity between locations, MNS is the ideal solution for companies that require the most stable and resilient network possible.

MNS utilises the latest MPLS technologies to connect sites in a company-wide virtual private network (VPN). Whether communicating with a head office or a hosted server, MNS utilises Claranet’s enterprise-grade private network to ensure a consistently high quality of service.

MAM Network Solutions offer a range of flexible options including a choice of service level agreements (SLAs), remote/home users, line monitoring, internet breakout, virtual server hosting and dual line or 3G failover. Furthermore, MNS is fully managed and supported by MAM Software, providing a single point of contact for all technical enquiries and ongoing support.

“We are delighted to be able to offer our customers the security and reliability of Claranet’s network infrastructure” said Nigel Clemett, Director of Sales at MAM Software. “Stable, high-capacity connectivity is a prerequisite for any multi-branch network or hosted solution. Having Claranet as the exclusive partner of MAM Network Solutions enables us to deliver enterprise-class services to our customers.”

Our Claranet partnership is central to our cloud computing strategy. Many of our customers are looking for more flexible and hassle-free ways in which to run their business management systems, and our new external hosting solutions help meet this objective. Partnering with Claranet instils the necessary confidence and security that is needed when working with a hosted solution. Through the use of their advanced private networks, we can ensure that system uptime is at its absolute maximum.”

Find out more:

• For the original article, visit MAM and Claranet to provide network solutions
• For more information about Claranet’s managed network services, visit managed networks
• For more information about Claranet’s hosting portfolio, visit hosting services.

By Simon Bearne, UK Sales Director, Claranet

The ongoing saga of 4G has been an interesting distraction for technophiles in recent weeks, with EE beginning trials in cities around the country and the other networks lobbying furiously – successfully, it seems – for Ofcom to bring forward the auction of the remaining mobile spectrum.

The squabble between the competing mobile network operators, along with the ongoing soap opera of the spectrum auction, is certainly relevant to anyone who is interested in the next-generation of high-speed mobile internet. But given that media mentions of 4G have focused on the consumer angle, resellers can be forgiven for wondering how relevant 4G will be to their core business of enterprise-focused IT.

However 4G on consumer mobile devices is a bit of a red herring – at least until battery life improves. As the New York Times recently pointed out, 4G absolutely kills mobile batteries: a combination of the increased processing power required for data-intensive communications, and the need to switch between 4G and 3G networks in areas of patchy coverage.

In fact, I believe that 4G will bring more immediate benefits to businesses than to consumers – and that this therefore presents an inviting and profitable opportunity to the channel.

Modern businesses thrive on connectivity, but the more reliant they have become on the internet, the more vulnerable they are when a technical fault or a workman’s misplaced spade causes the network goes down. For many businesses any network downtime is unacceptable, so they invest in a redundant and costly physical backup network.

The advent of superfast mobile networks will – and I use this word advisedly – revolutionise the way that businesses build backup connectivity into their networks. Instead of investing in redundant physical infrastructure, they can instead use a 4G-enabled router to access cheap, fast and effective backup connectivity in the event of any disruption to their main network.

The implications for businesses could be immediate, by enabling them to switch seamlessly to a service delivered over the mobile spectrum at a fraction of the cost of a redundant cable connection. Because this would predominantly involve mains powered devices, the issue of battery life doesn’t arise; moreover, it brings backup connectivity within the range of smaller businesses that could not previously afford it.

Similar services already exist over a high performance 3G network, and this is particularly attractive to businesses that depend on ‘always-on’ connectivity such as retailers, who need to be able to process card transactions at all times. The limitations of the 3G network mean that it is not an ideal replacement for businesses that require constant, high-speed connectivity. That will change as soon as 4G comes online.

While most mobile operators may be thinking about the business implications of 4G, it’s likely that they will concentrate more on the lucrative consumer side, with its potential for pushing contract upgrades and device sales. That is why the channel has such an important part to play: to act as a link between mobile operators and the businesses that stand to benefit. And if resellers jump on this opportunity and start investigating potential relationships with mobile network operators now, it’s not just businesses that will profit.

Find out more:

• To read the full article, go to MicroScope
• For more information about Claranet’s new 3G service, visit wireless services
• For more information about Claranet’s managed network services, visit managed networks