Stott Hoare acquires Southern Cross WA

Stott Hoare has acquired the Western Australian business of Southern Cross Computer Systems (SCCS) for an undisclosed amount.

The deal gives Stott Hoare a pipeline of $2 million of business opportunities from more than 50 medium and large customers, as well as skillsets in "cloud migration services and large storage and server infrastructure solutions", said Stott Hoare managing director Jim Loader.

There was a crossover of vendors such as VMware, Lenovo, IBM, HP, Cisco, Dell and Microsoft, while the deal should expand Stott Hoare's offer Pure Storage and Telstra.

Stott Hoare has hired Southern Cross WA’s leading technical account manager and BDM, Barry Cook. Loader said the rest of SCCS's Perth team had found work elsewhere.

It's a positive move for 30-staff Stott Hoare, which was founded in 1915 and is one of the oldest companies in the IT industry. The company expanded into a new, purpose-built operations centre in 2014.

According to an email sent by Loader, the deal "allows both companies to focus on their experience, strengths and history in the respective geographies of Perth and Melbourne".

SCCS had entered the Western Australian market in 2012, revealing a strategy to "expand geographically into growth markets". Later the same year, SCCS also expanded into New South Wales.