Networking VAR moves into new territories with latest acquisition

Networking Utilities' purchase of Metropolitan Networks sees it move into Africa and the Middle East

Network Utilities' acquisition of Orpington-based VAR Metropolitan Networks has led to its first international expansion.

The takeover means the networking VAR now has teams and offices in Tobago, Lagos and Saudi Arabia, as well as its own on-premise datacentre and network operations centre (NOC) in Orpington.

"This acquisition marks a great day in our 25-year history and brings together two companies that have a highly regarded and trusted reputation with clients and partners," said David Bundock, chief operating officer at Network Utilities.

"As one of the oldest serving specialist solution providers with customer relationships that span over a decade, Network Utilities has focused on excellence over growth.

"However, with this deal, we now have the depth and breadth of people, technologies and services to expand our customer footprint without sacrificing the values that have made us so successful."

Metropolitan was founded in 2003 and counts Extreme Networks and Fortinet among its vendor partners.

The acquisition will see Surrey-based Network Utilities take over all staff, premises and ongoing contracts from Metropolitan, as well as establishing a new headquarters in Orpington, where the NOC and datacentre are located.

The VAR counts Palo Alto, Juniper and Bromium among its partners, and the combined company will have in-house security clearance for its continuing work with UK government agencies.

Ashok Thomas, CEO and founder of Metropolitan, said that growing the company organically proved a tough task.

"Metropolitan Networks has grown rapidly, and the last 15 years has been a fantastic journey," he said.

"However, to keep on meeting the expectations of our clients, while expanding the business, proved challenging through organic growth alone.

"This investment by Network Utilities and the merging of expert technical and sales teams into a new entity offers our existing clients more benefits, including access to some of the best security-focused people in the UK plus a management team that has vast experience in successfully growing a business over the last two decades."