Perth Telstra partner Netlink Group acquires fellow provider M2 Digital ICT

Perth-based MSP Netlink Group has acquired fellow WA Telstra partner M2 Digital ICT from its parent company M2 Technology for an undisclosed sum.

Netlink revealed it had signed off on the acquisition late last week, announcing to both companies the successful completion of a deal that had been in discussion since November 2017.

The deal, which will see all of M2 Digital’s 24 operational staff join Netlink’ 35 employees, is expected to grow Netlink’s annual revenue by 80 percent, according to managing director Steve van Blommestein.

While the WA providers both have core offerings in managed services and IT, Netlink saw M2’s mobility, mobile device management (MDM) and telephony specialisations as a major opportunity to bolster its own services as it looks to land more enterprise clients.

“This is a very strategic acquisition for us,” van Blommestein told CRN.

“We are constantly being asked by Telstra and our customers if we can provide end-to-end managed services and to put it on one bill, and while we do this, businesses also often require mobility or MDM provisioning, which we had been unable to provide ourselves.”

The managing director noted that WA’s mining downturn had been challenging for the state’s ICT industry, but that Telstra contracts had kept his business humming along.

With momentum now returning to the state and new mining clients being available, van Blommestein said building out the company’s capabilities would help open more doors.

“M2 have very strong mobility and MDM skills, through which they make significant income and that is growing. They also have a significant enterprise mobility contract, which is one of only a couple in the state,” he said.

"With this acquisition, we now can offer a ‘whole of business’ to enterprise and premier customers and manage their entire services on a single bill." 

Van Blommestein said initial talks over M2 Digital ICT began between himself and M2 Technology managing director Kevin Green.

“M2 Digital is another prominent Telstra partner like ourselves, we’re both well recognised with Telstra and customers in WA,” van Blommestein said.

“With that being the case I know them quite well, we’ve had a friendly relationship and Kevin and I have previously discussed what the future holds for Telstra partners.

With Telstra undergoing major organisational restructuring and business rationalisation, van Blommestein said the telco was expecting more from its partners to provide complete managed services.

“They have a mandate out to every Telstra partner now, whether they do mobility, hardware, software, or services, they are saying, ‘You need to have a complete stack to offer customers, to be able to secure to keep the bigger clients’.”

Netlink Group was established in 1994, providing networking and IT services to WA customers. The company boasts being an early provider of managed services, with customers signed up to pay regular fees for outsourced ICT services as Y2K concerns loomed at the turn of the century and the .com boom fizzled out. 

The business is a specialist in vendors such as Cisco, HP, NetApp and Microsoft and also counts the likes of Veeam, Meraki, APC by Schneider Electric, Xirrus, Citrix, Connectwise, Dell, Fortinet, Polycom and VMware among its partner portfolio. 

The official takeover date is set for 24 August, Netlink’s executive team will remain unchanged as they take over the new business.