South African public cloud communication solutions provider Connection Telecom has acquired 51% of shares in Analog and Digital Communications (AnD), an independent provider of private branch exchange and contact centre voice solutions, for an undisclosed amount.
Founded in 2004, Connection Telecom is an independent provider of multi-tenanted cloud real-time communications solutions to Southern African businesses.
Under the deal, AnD's existing owners and executives, Kelvin Brown and Jill Thompson, retain their management responsibilities, and no changes in the current employment structure of AnD is expected.
According to Connection Telecom, the collaboration stems from an initial business relationship established between the companies in 2015, whereby AnD approached Connection to assist with the virtualisation of its cloud communication products, and white-labelled its cloud services from Connection Telecom's multi-tenanted cloud infrastructure.
After a successful cloud migration for AnD, and with the growing demand of local businesses requiring tailored cloud services, Connection Telecom says it saw a prime opportunity to expand its operations countrywide to better service all its customers.
As part of its regional growth strategy, Connection Telecom had already acquired Johannesburg-based cloud service provider Fat Budgie in 2013, and was looking to secure a stronger presence in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) market.
Having exceeded service expectations for 30 years, Durban-born AnD was the most obvious and suitable choice for Connection Telecom's next partnership to enhance its service and support capabilities in the province, the company says.
"Through this acquisition, existing and potential customers of both Connection Telecom and AnD will benefit from upgrading the Durban point-of-presence to a full node on the core network of Connection Telecom, completing the multi-gigabit network between Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town," says David Meintjes, MD of Connection Telecom.
He adds that AnD will access the national presence of install and maintenance capacity in 50 points in the country to fulfil customer requirements elsewhere in SA.
"From the acquisition, businesses will also have a wider selection of access networks to choose from (which will now include Seacom, Liquid, Openserve, Mitsol, Comsol, Vodacom, Metro Fibre Networks, Dark Fibre Networks, Internet Solutions) at the same price as their retail prices, including separate VLAN that supports high-quality voice.
"They will also get improved access to our professional services and core team, and more direct access to a fuller range of cloud services offered from AWS [Amazon Web Services], Google and IBM BlueMix services. It will allow wider access to additional cloud services for one, and will enable KZN-based businesses with offices throughout SA to leverage off of our national footprint of service."
Kelvin Brown, technical director at AnD, says: "This is a fantastic opportunity for our loyal clients to benefit from these enhancements to our portfolio. What's more is that it will ensure we remain the leading-edge provider of quality voice and data services well into the future."
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