ONI plots growth surge with £3m datacentre

Ambitious Cisco partner eyes £50m top line as it invests in purpose-built facility

Ambitious Cisco Gold partner ONI is aiming to more than double its turnover to £50m.

In its 2009 fiscal year, the Luton-based firm posted sales of £10.8m. For the 12 months to the end of March 2010, revenue rose to £12.8m.

Having set itself a top-line target of £18m for FY11, the VAR claims to be on track to grow sales to £22m, after recording first-half revenue of £11m.

Some £3m is also being invested in a purpose-built datacentre, which is to be opened next year. The tier-three facility will offer more than 300 managed racks and business continuity managed services suites.

Sales and marketing director Kevin Kivlochan (pictured) said: "Because we are privately owned, we are not being pushed into short-term gains, and can look at the longer game."

A number of experienced channel heads have also joined ONI in recent weeks to support the growth push, including Andrew Lawrence, who has been brought in to head the VAR's datacentre business practice.

Mike Mason, managing director of Cisco Gold partner Intrinsic Technology, said: "It is good to see another partner doing well. We have grown our top line revenue by 35 per cent [in the financial year to November] to £30m and have more than doubled our profit."

In the past two years, overall staff levels have risen from 65 to 82. ONI plans to have 90 people on board by the end the current fiscal year. The Cisco-focused VAR has 40 staff holding accreditations from the vendor - including 12 with the prestigious CCIE badge. ONI says this is the highest proportion of CCIE holders to overall staff of any Cisco partner.

"We are heavy on staff training," added Kivlochan. "Pay rises are linked to exams."