MSP makes second Irish acquisition of the year

UK player Calligo makes second Irish M&A move of the year through snapping up Itomic Voice & Data

UK MSP Calligo claims it has become one of Ireland's largest players through snapping up local outfit Itomic Voice & Data.

Based in the cities of Dublin and Cork, Itomic Voice & Data is an SME-focused managed services firm that has been operating for the last 12 years.

The firm claims to have deep ties with Microsoft, having won SMB Cloud Partner of the Year with the vendor in 2013, but also works with HP, Panasonic, Dell and Adobe.

The acquisition's terms and value were not disclosed. It marks Calligo's second in Ireland this year, having previously snapped by Dublin-based DC Networks in January.

The Jersey-based player claims that, with these two acquisitions, it is now one of the largest MSPs in the Irish market and the only one that is able to offer data privacy support within all of its services.

It claims that Itomic Voice & Data's capabilities in offering Microsoft 365 and Azure services compliments its own key investment areas, Calligo claims.

"We focused our current expansion strategy on Ireland because of its growing number of innovative businesses developing new data-reliant tools and services. We believe Irish businesses stand to gain enormously from our services and expertise, particularly in international data privacy," said Calligo CEO Julian Box (pictured).

The Microsoft, VMware and Lenovo partner has made seven acquisitions over the last three years. Before targeting Ireland, Calligo made three acquisitions in Canada.

It also bought out a Luxembourg-based MSP called AMS Systems in 2017.

Calligo isn't the only channel partner that has been investing heavily in the Irish market as of late.

In February, two top tech suppliers in Ireland - Arkphire and Trilogy - merged to create a €150m-revenue powerhouse in managed services and IT procurement.

At the time, Arkphire laid out its ambitions to become an Irish IT champion.

Meanwhile, German player Cancom made one of 2019's largest channel acquisitions with its purchase of Novosco for €80m. Although based in Belfast, Novosco has an office in Ireland, giving Cancom a foothold in a new market.

Calligo is being backed by private equity giant InvestCorp, receiving a $20m cash injection in 2016.