Business Serve plays Pipemedia
ISP buys telephony VAR in 'inevitable' deal
Voice over IP (VoIP) and broadband telephony reseller Pipemedia has been bought by ISP Business Serve.
Pipemedia sells to both carriers and corporate customers in the UK. The deal should give Business Serve a telephony offering to go alongside its traditional network and hosting provision.
"A deal like this was inevitable. Pipemedia was one of the leading lights and created a route to market for Business Serve," said Scott Dobson, managing director of distributor DCM UK.
"Quite a few business ISPs are on the look-out, but there are not many resellers in the same space as Pipemedia. There is a market for smaller ISPs to specialise in the IP Centrex space."
Business Serve chief executive Simon Cleaver said he believes the buy-out will make his company a one-stop shop for Carrier Pre Select and VoIP as well as hosting and network provision.
"This acquisition enables Business Serve to become the UK?s leading converged communications group," Cleaver said. "That differentiates us from rivals in the ISP and telco markets."
Cleaver said his immediate intention is to integrate the company into Business Serve and begin cross-selling to customers.