THE INTEGRATOR: CIRRUS NETWORKS
Who are they?
Cirrus Networks is a Perth integrator that started in 2012. It racked up $6 million of revenue in its first year and has been profitable since December, according to the Australian Financial Review. Cirrus has many vendor relationships on its books, including Apple, Dell, iiNet, Microsoft, NetApp, NextDC, Symantec and VMware. The company this year announced its promotion to Elite status in Juniper Networks’ partner programme.
Why should I care?
In an interview with Fairfax Media last month, co-founder and chief executive Frank Richmond said Cirrus Networks had shortlisted three junior mining companies for a reverse takeover. Cirrus is seeking to emulate the success of Bulletproof Group in transforming a struggling public mining firm into a technology outfit.
Richmond also said that the integrator would like to expand operations into the eastern states via acquisitions. A future public listing would raise capital to fund this strategy.
What do they say?
“We have looked at a number of paths to market but a backdoor listing seems to be the easiest route,” Richmond told Fairfax Media. “There are lots of stagnant shell companies in Perth with shareholders that are eager to see the directors do something more for them.”
When will they float?
When the three shortlisted targets are narrowed to one winner.
THE DARK HORSE: CLOUD LANDS DIGITAL FORTRESS
Who are they?
A startup founded in December 2013 by Ross Smith, a former co-founder of Australian broadband wholesaler Request DSL. Based in Perth, Cloud Lands has venture capital backing but hadn’t launched services yet at the time of writing, nor had it revealed any service provider partners' names. On the technology side, the company's services will be hosted on a VCE Vblock platform, which uses Cisco, EMC and VMware technology. Chief technology officer is Greg Pennefather, another Request DSL co-founder.
Why should I care?
The Perth outfit could be destined for the ASX if a potential acquisition by listed mining exploration company Resource Star goes ahead. A mere seven months after Cloud Lands started, Resource Star acquired an option to purchase the company. Meanwhile, Cloud Lands is aiming high, promising services from a Perth data centre and plans for services from data centres on the east coast. Most interestingly, a "world leading global multibillion dollar" networking and computing hardware vendor has signed a memoranda of understanding. Cloud Lands promises an impressive pedigree, but had not revealed names at the time of writing.
What do they say?
"The SME market is the holy grail, if you like, because it is so large. But because it's so granular it is very difficult to crack it. That's where we're looking to go," Pennefather told CRN.
"Our view is that the large cloud service providers offer a premium platform but little in the way of service or support to mid-size companies and SMEs, whereas those providers that do offer support tend to have lower end platforms," said Resource Star chairman Andrew Bell.
When will they float?
If Resource Star exercises its option to acquire the company, the acquisition could be complete by 17 November.
THE DATA CENTRE OPERATOR: ADX MANAGEMENT
Who are they?
ADX Management is a new entity formed to set up two new data centres: one in Brisbane, one in Melbourne. The Victorian facility, which cost $26 million to acquire, should be pretty well known to Melbournites – it's the former Fairfax printing plant on the main route to Tullamarine Airport.
ADX is floating via backdoor listing through an acquisition of IM Medical, a firm that originally listed in 1996 and was historically involved in radiology.
Why should I care?
The anchor tenant for ADX is another new company, called Ascalon, which is set to take a 20-year lease for the entire Stage 1 of the Melbourne facility. Perhaps the name is unknown, but its carries some serious data centre credentials. The men behind Ascalon are Jon Eaves and Andrew Hardy.
Eaves sold his data centre business to Vocus Communications in 2010 and has continued to operate hosting and co-location outfit Indigo. His partner in Ascalon, Andrew Hardy, co-founded Harbour MSP, which he built up to revenues of circa $40 million when it was sold to Japanese telco giant NTT Communications, which also owns Dimension Data.
Harbour MSP was an anchor tenant for NextDC Melbourne; now, ADX is looking to ramp up some competition against NextDC as the newest Australian-owned facility provider.
What do they say?
"ADX intends to offer data centre facilities and solutions to cloud computing service providers, telecommunications and information technology providers, and corporate and government departments generally," according to a statement to the sharemarket.
When will they float?
The acquisition is set to complete in late November.
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