advertisement need to understand both the scope for cloud technology to deliver the specific infrastructure and services they need , and also how to use it when it is in place .
Expanding the footprint
For 6DG , these trends help shape its strategy . In 2015 , after four years of targeted expansion , the company moved onto its next stage of development , and with Mills still at the helm , original owner Penta sold the business to new backers , Charlesbank Capital , a Boston and New York based investment business with more than $ 3bn of assets under management . Described by Six Degrees as a ‘ big hitter ’, the partnership is positioned as a meeting of minds and culture – the aim being to create the UK ’ s largest Managed Services Provider to midmarket customers .
Those plans moved forward quickly . Shortly after Charlesbank took ownership , 6DG made its largest acquisition to date , buying Capital Support , a prominent provider of Cloud and IT services to the alternative investment market . In early 2016 , the company made two further acquisitions , in the form of specialist providers Carrenza and Insite , adding more strings to its bow , including : Application hosting expertise , particularly for Dynamics AX Application performance management and uptime guarantees Security , Information and Event Management ( SIEM ) services Public cloud integration for Amazon Web Services , Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform .
To complement and enhance the company ’ s growth , in September this year , 6DG opened a major new data centre in the heart of Birmingham . Located alongside the city ’ s thriving ‘ Silicon Canal ’, the brand new 5,800m2 stateof-the-art facility will deliver high performance energy efficient data centre space to meet the increasing demands of businesses across the Midlands and the UK .
The launch of the new ‘ Birmingham Central ’ facility adds a new chapter to 6DG ’ s longstanding commitment to invest in the region , with the new addition to the portfolio designed to complement the footprint of the company ’ s own existing South Birmingham and London based data centres .
Mills explains , ‘ Despite its high level of automation , the scalability , flexibility and security of cloud technology all depend on highly efficient data centres . Combined with the constant demand for colocation and given that we ’ ve managed to sell out the capacity in our Birmingham South facility , it was therefore a natural progression to expand our data centre space in the Midlands . The opportunity to be in the heart of Britain ’ s second city and one of the country ’ s leading digital hubs couldn ’ t be missed .’
Creating a positive , grounded culture
Mills sees this kind of investment as unprecedented in the converged infrastructure sector . ‘ Our success has come on the back of acquisitions and organic growth , but this approach is about long term planning and strategic thinking . What ’ s coming together is a culture of cloud adoption across our client base , and our own ability to create the “ 6DG way ” against this backdrop of rapid growth .’
Looking ahead , 6DG will maintain its midmarket focus , says Mills , and the M & A strategy which has helped Six Degrees grow rapidly remains a central part of its future roadmap .
‘ The mix of future M & A activity and our current organic growth strategy will deliver a structure that will bring us closer to our customers ,’ says Mills . ‘ We have been ramping up on pre sales , for example , because really
good technical people are essential to midmarket clients who want to focus on building cloud expertise , but still have anything from 20 to 50 applications in their business . They need us to build bespoke infrastructure platforms to perform complex application delivery . Combine this with the backdrop of an increasingly uncertain and regulated world , and the result is that customers are increasingly demanding managed DR , managed security and managed compliance , all of which need great people at the heart of the solution .’
In the next year , 6DG plans to further develop market leading application monitoring , managed compliance and security-as-as-service solutions whilst continuing to expand its public cloud integration services for Amazon Web Services , Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform . ‘ We ’ ve seen cloud make such an important impact for so many customers ,’ says Mills . ‘ Businesses who were once held back by their approach to IT are now alive with technology , which is allowing them to focus on what they do best .’
For 6DG , riding the wave of industry defining trends has been an essential part of its success over the past five years . As the cloud market continues its high momentum growth , 6DG is positioned to support businesses where cloud culture is becoming the route to agility and competitive advantage .
www . 6dg . co . uk