Colt leaps into the cloud with ThinkGrid buy

Acquisition will give telecoms outfit access to ThinkGrid's 200-strong partner base

Telecoms vendor Colt Technology Services has bolstered its cloud offering by acquiring infrastructure vendor ThinkGrid.

The acquisition, which will see 200 ThinkGrid resellers and ISVs join Colt's partner base, signals Colt's attempt to further penetrate the SMB market, claimed the vendor.

Washington-headquartered ThinkGrid, which provides partners with white-label cloud services, will bolster Colt's place in the market, according to its executive vice president François Eloy.

"The acquisition of ThinkGrid further strengthens our position with the addition of a complementary range of cloud-based services," he said.

"The SME market for managed services is set to grow at 15 per cent annually during the coming years. Colt is well positioned to penetrate this market through our indirect channels.

"This acquisition allows us to extend our channel community [which] will help us to accelerate our growth."

Channel-focused ThinkGrid added a new Silver tier to its partner programme in May, which aimed to help smaller partners take their first steps into the cloud.

The firm will gain access to Colt's 20 datacentres, research and development resources and the opportunity to expand its European footprint.

Rob Lovell, chief executive of ThinkGrid, said joining forces with Colt fits in with the company's expansion plans.

"Becoming part of Colt supports ThinkGrid's vision to become the world's leading cloud services enablement platform, offering great product and market development opportunities," he added.