iiNet buys into national IT support outfit

Internet service provider iiNet has acquired a majority stake in home and business IT services provider Tech2 Group, in a further sign of the company's ambitions in the business IT market.

The ISP has taken a 60 percent stake in the company, which includes the Gizmo, Tech2business and Tech2home brands. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

It comes a year after iiNet founder Michael Malone told CRN the company would look for acquisitions in the B2B space in 2014.

As well as expanding iiNet's ability to provide residential IT support and NBN and entertainment installation, the moves gives iiNet access to a national field and call centre technology business through Tech2business. The business manages the ERP tool Streamline, which is used by Silcar Communications and Harvey Norman.

Through the deal, iiNet will also extend its small and medium business support through Gizmo, which provides phone support for setup and networking repairs as well as cloud solutions to home and SMBs. The Gizmo business lists Dell, iPrimus, JB Hi-Fi and Microsoft among its partners.

Tech2 Group began operating in 1998 and has 650 staff and contractors. Three of its management team had former careers in the Australian Army.

Last month, iiNet reported 20 percent of its business came from the business customers in the 2014 financial year. Business revenue was up 11 percent to $204 million.

In the SMB market, iiNet offers hosted Exchange, hosted Lync, business cloud services and hosting, as well as customised solutions for hosted voice in the corporate market and advanced IP telephony for government customers. It is also on a Federal Government Data Centre Facility Supplies Panel.

A core focus is small business, though iiNet has aspirations beyond this segment, as CEO David Buckingham explained earlier this year. 

"While a core focus continues to be the SOHO and SME segments, we are increasing our presence in the government and corporate segments as we continue to leverage our product, network and data centre assets," Buckingham stated in an earnings announcement in February.